The Embassy of the Togolese Republic was inaugurated in Doha on Wednesday.

The opening ceremony was attended by HE Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Togolese Republic Robert Dussey and HE Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.

Mr Giles Enticknap MBE has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Republic of Botswana in succession to Ms Sian Price who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Enticknap will take up his appointment during August 2024

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Government of UK.

The Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Harry K. Kimtai, today officially launched the National Health Accounts Estimates Report for the fiscal years 2019/20 to 2021/22. 

The event underscored the government’s dedication to enhancing health services and ensuring equitable healthcare access for all Kenyans. 

In his address, Kimtai stressed that health is a fundamental right enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution, ensuring every citizen the right to the highest attainable standard of health. He reiterated the Ministry of Health’s commitment to implementing policies and measures to progressively achieve these rights.

The Principal Secretary highlighted significant progress made under the Vision 2030 initiative, particularly in improving healthcare quality and accessibility. He pointed out several achievements, including free treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis patients, which have contributed to a reduction in child and maternal mortality rates. 

Despite these successes, Kimtai acknowledged ongoing challenges in the health sector, such as inequitable access to services, inadequate financing, and a shortage of skilled health workers. 

He emphasized the need for continued efforts to address both communicable and non-communicable diseases, which place a substantial burden on the health system.

Kimtai also discussed the government’s Bottom Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) aimed at achieving universal health coverage (UHC). 

The Ministry has initiated reforms focused on human resources for health, health products and technologies, integrated health information systems, and healthcare financing.

The launch of the National Health Accounts Estimates Report provides valuable data for benchmarking, accountability, and evidence-based policymaking. It will aid in resource mobilization, service utilization, and fund allocation, contributing to better health outcomes for the population. 

Kimtai expressed gratitude to development partners, including WHO, USAID, and JICA, for their support in the NHA estimation process. He urged the involved teams to ensure the data collected is accurate and credible to facilitate effective health planning and policy formulation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Health, Kenya.

In its bid to boost free trade and foster trade integration, the ECOWAS department for Economic Affairs and Agriculture has organized a train-the-trainer workshop on ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) of the National Committee of Origin recognition Committee (NRCOC) and the sensitization of the Private sector in Monrovia, Liberia from 16th to 17th May 2022.

The establishment of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) in the 1990s provided the community framework for the operationalization of the ECOWAS Free Trade zone. With the evolution of the procedures for origin recognition worldwide and the need to ensure that the ETLS becomes a true vehicle for industrial and economic growth in West Africa, ECOWAS revised all the origin related texts.

A supplementary Act on ECOWAS rules of origin and origin recognition procedures was adopted in December 2018. Two regulations on modalities for the implementation of the Supplementary Act were adopted in December 2021 by the Council of Ministers. The main goal for of these reforms was to update and simplify the procedures for community origin recognition and certification while respecting the commitments of the members States with other international organizations such as World Customs Organization (WCO and World Trade Organization (WTO).

To ensure that Customs administrations, National committees for the origin recognition (NCOR) and the private sector are well equipped to implement the provisions of the texts, the Customs Union and Taxation Directorate has programmed a series training workshops to train the focal points of the NCOR. The training will take the form of train-the-trainer as these focal points will in turn train the various stakeholders in their respective countries.

Participants will be drawn from Customs administrations and other structures of the NCOR.

The main purpose of these training workshops is to train focal points of the National Committee for origin recognition (NCOR) on the new ECOWAS rules of origin during their working session and sensitize the Private Sector on advantages of the ETLS.

The training workshops will focus mainly on the new provisions introduced in the Supplementary Act and regulations. This workshop will enable focal points to identify a product as originating, train and sensitize at the national level on the new ECOWAS Rules of origin.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).