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The textile and fibre sectors of Ethiopia have been looking to expand domestic sakes as Ethiopia approaches one year anniversary of its exclusion of the USA’s Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This process continues even as a new peace deal between the government and rebel Tigray forces is being rolled out, growing hope that Ethiopia may be readmitted to AGOA and its preferential US market access in 2023.…

An African garment and textile sector rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic has seen strong export growth in the first three-quarters of 2022 start to sputter through a tightening of retail demand in Europe and the United States. These remain Africa’s two primary export markets and their consumers are reducing spending as inflation and recession concerns grow.…

As Ethiopia approaches the one-year anniversary since the USA’s Biden administration suspended the country from its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) privileges over human rights abuses, a senior union leader hopes these rights will be restored in 2023. (1)

With the Ethiopian and rebel Tigray governments agreeing a ceasefire last week (Nov 2), to forge a long-term peace following two years’ armed conflict, Kassahun Follo, president of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), an alliance of trade unions, said the AGOA expulsion led to a loss of more than 5,600 jobs in Ethiopia’s flagship Hawassa Industrial Park alone – a key textile and clothing manufacturing hub.…

INTRODUCTION 

With the textile industry under pressure from consumers, regulators and standards to become more sustainable, companies are looking at all aspects of the supply chain – including upstream to fibre production. Digitalisation has a key role to play here, especially in supplier countries where the use of such technology is weak – such as in Africa.…

Suspicious transaction reports (STRs) often receive bad press in AML circles, experts claiming they are too expensive, numerous and often containing little value for law enforcement investigations. However, the truth is that STRs are widely used to investigate and prosecute money laundering and associated predicate offences, even if the debate continues over their cost effectiveness.…

While the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a shadow of its former self in the Middle East, it has spawned global affiliates and is still very much in business, posing ongoing terrorist financing threats.

At the peak of its power as a self-declared Islamic Caliphate in 2015, ISIS controlled around a third of Syria’s territory and 40%of Iraq, with some 7.7 million people under its rule.…

The Ethiopian government has attached the US decision to suspend its country from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 2. The Ethiopia ministry of trade and regional integration (MoTRI) today said it was disappointed by the move: “We’re currently disappointed by the threat of AGOA withdrawal currently under consideration by the US government,” it said in a formal statement. …

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has unveiled plans to upgrade its recommendation 24 on transparency and beneficial ownership, stressing how the Pandora papers leaks confirmed the ML vulnerabilities posed by anonymous shell companies and other pro-secrecy arrangements.  In its proposals, FATF wants all countries to ban the issue of bearer shares and establish a beneficial ownership registry, “or use an alternative system that also enables efficient access to beneficial ownership information by competent authorities”.…

AFRICA is commonly hailed as the world’s next big focus of economic growth, but for the civil aviation industry, this prospect will require significant investment in new intra-African routes and related airport and ATC infrastructure. It will also require governments to remove immigration barriers preventing African air travellers flying to other countries on their home continent.…

NORTH Africa is a region where care for appearance, grooming and personal hygiene is integral to its cultural DNA, so while personal care product majors have a strong presence, it is maybe no surprise that local beauty manufacturers continue to bubble up with fresh ideas and products that capture the imagination of consumers.…