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2 the world's biggest markets by population is about to be a stop list of all the african union gathering in the jazz capital 9 may this weekend so in all great african consonantal free trade agreements. and kenyans families of people killed in a plane crash in ethiopia are in moscow reject a proposal by plane make up boeing to compensate them say they'll go through the colts it stick. this is this is africa on the.

welcome african leaders set to launch a continent wide free trade zone this weekend had an extraordinary summit of the african union in the jat meeting in may we'll put the trade zone in its quote operational phase that leads the $25.00 countries that have already ratified the deal will start enjoying lower tried restrictions also africa's biggest economy nigeria now says it will sign the deal the agreement is expected to accelerate the pace of economic development in africa regional trade remains alarmingly low africa is set to be the world's largest market by population and the world's largest free trade area the african continent of free trade agreement the a.f.c. f.d.a. could one day open access to a market with 1200000000 people. 25 african countries have ratified the agreement including south africa egypt and ethiopia. the continent's most

populous country nigeria now plans to join its government had held off signing the agreement because it wanted business leaders to support it nigeria's decision to get on the free trade bandwagon has been welcomed. experts say the f c f t a will be a game changer for the continent. at the moment intercontinental trade in africa only accounts for 17 percent of all african trade the figure for asia is more than 3 times higher at 59 percent for europe it's 69 percent experts say the removal of trade barriers will increase in truck continental commerce in africa the f c f t a could raise intra africa trade by more than 50 percent by 2022 according to the u.n. and that could help propel economic development by creating more opportunities for businesses on the continent. correspondence advantage of those with you know

as one of we've heard regional trade intra african trade african countries trading with each other is still staggering lelo why is that. is a big reason is just moving goods within africa is really hard so just getting goods on you know a truck or you know a container in a royal line to another country is really difficult as there isn't a lack of roads. ports are you know. centuries behind in terms of where they should be in terms of you know they're like in the 20th century where as everybody has moved on so it's a huge issue and then of course when the goods do get to a border somewhere otoh ports in a different country they are held up for days sometimes customs red tape bribery is an issue of course you may have to bribe someone just to get your goods cleared so there's a lot of like issues going on the same types of issues we see in other industries of course and that's

a major problem in africa so that is the one reason why this is a big problem is not just a lack of tariffs old that sort of not having like having tariffs it's also the fact that it's really hard to get things from a to b. in africa so this is a good 1st step to this free trade agreement you think it is in terms of the legal framework is a good step but of course there's a whole lot of work to be done and this is just the 1st step the countries that have signed up to this needs to be now working on figuring out what the 90 percent of the goods that won't have any tires will be and that's the process is going to take 5 to 8 years so it's so early so. it comes in into effect as it it is early stages and of course we're just talking about figuring out what the products are was it talking about the standards so standards for the products that can work for all of africa so like in europe we have europe wide standards for goods as well and this is something africa needs to figure out and when that does happen you need to have you know like. basically the skilled manpower and

authorities who can actually make sure that those standards of being and here too and of course in africa there's an issue with corruption in some countries there's a lack of skilled month power in some places so there's definitely a lot that needs to be done it's not just the infrastructure it's also on the level of do we have the manpower do we have the institutions to do this that can actually you know do it and work in africa learn from you mentioned europe the european union which has been around for many decades what kind of from us well i mean obviously agreeing on something is something. but of course in europe was a complaint about just how long it takes to you know get something from a directive into something it can be applied as law in different countries it's a very hard process and i think for africans probably what they have to learn is some patience and maybe just having some sort of maybe we shouldn't be like to. unfold by the whole thing and too excited we should be looking at it also critically and that's part of the problem with

a lot of reporting that's going on right now there's a lot of celebration and excitement because it's a it's a step forward but there's a whole lot of work to be done. with noting that europe has taken many decades before because of european union frankly from its very beginnings in the 1950 s. . so you think that the hope attached to this trade agreement is a justified is a justified somewhat i mean it's a step forward so i would say yes but the major issue with africa is of course the lack of a manufacturing industry now that is a huge problem so the products being you know traded in africa within africa today more than 50 percent of those products actually commodities are not traded they're not trading like finished goods is a problem those finished goods tend to come from china and that's also an italian was out exactly and so africa needs to develop goods that have added value and to do that it needs to have an. astri's i can do that and if you look at south africa

as a good example it is probably one of the most advanced economies on the continent and it actually accounts for 34 percent of entrap africa exports and so we need that in more countries we need more money factoring industries going on whether it's in nigeria kenya or ghana everywhere needs to have a huge manufacturing base and that's something that needs to change to below thank you very much u.s. aerospace giant boeing is setting up a 100000000 dollar fund to compensate families of victims who perished in the 2 recent crashes of its 737 max planes in indonesia and ethiopia but many of the affected families trying to make sense of the offer and some are already saying no thanks. ethiopia airlines flight 302 was one of the 2 fatal crashes all 157 passengers and crew on board were killed lawyers for some of the victims'

family members say boeing's offer is tactical in light of recent lawsuits. by we're going to make this statement was meant to sui the minds of the judy that will be making a determination on the cases that have been fried and. other family members have wondered why boeing didn't contact them 1st a kenyan man even told reuters that the money offer poses a danger in a country where kidnappings for ransom aren't uncommon. the details of boeing's offer meanwhile remain opaque will family members have to apply for aid how much will go to living expenses or charities boeing is still grappling with the 2 crashes which killed a total of 346 people and wiped billions off its market value it already faces more than 100 lawsuits related to the accidents the aircraft type involved in both crashes the 737 max remains grounded worldwide. south africa's

state owned arms company dinero has asked for a $200000000.00 cash injection from the government to help it through a financial crisis senior executive told the reuters news agency that expects the request to be granted and funds to be allocated later this year bills are said general would not sell equity to saudi arabia and defense for the following reports of a $1000000000.00 partnership bid last year. the european union has spent several years trying to advance the economies of the western balkans but it's got competition on its hands in montenegro china is pumping funds into the e.u. kind of the state of the increasing rate buying companies and investing in infrastructure. china's road and bridge corp is building a brand new highway across my. negro from the capital pago richer to neighboring serbia price tag 840000000 euros an entire village of construction workers

has moved in from china for the project one of a series of construction contracts won by the chinese in the balkans it's part of china's belgian road initiative or new silk road the global infrastructure project which will transport chinese goods directly to europe chinese investors are also taking over profitable businesses like slovenian kitchen appliance make it go in year which produces mostly in serbia but they're also buying up some of the struggling heavy industries left over from former yugoslavia beijing paid $45000000.00 euros for this ancient steel plant in smit out of all rescuing 5000 jobs in what was a somewhat crisis hit region china's multi-million offer for the former state owned couple mine r t b in the eastern serbian town of bor also trump the competition copper is now being produced there in line with chinese standards. financial analysts like friedrich

book of esther bank in vienna say this is just the beginning of some problematic developments. and for of course china has an advantage it doesn't ask about what the democracy and political conditions are like there it also isn't worried about the legal situation which of course the e.u. is already doing from a governance point of view. that gives chinese companies an unfair edge in tendering procedures another edge they have over european companies is that the millions in loans they get from chinese state banks are often interest free and paid back over 20 to 40 years by which time inflation will have cut their value in half and the balkan states especially which had for a long time hopefully you membership now prefer to look to china. friedrich says europe has lost out on some economic opportunities he shows us the plans for the

new palace at bridge in croatia it will connect the southern coastline with the rest of the country even an e.u. member of croatia the china road and bridge corporation snapped up the contract beijing is planning a total of 900000000000 euros for its new silk road and wants to do a great deal in the balkans regardless of the implications. that's it for me on the business are focusing on the limo business news now as i'm back on stories as usual on. such a business stay tuned though d.w. business not business while the news hour is next for the full.

africa. the correct way to cool coffee bushes. influence you all displays a happy thought for the d.c. . note or training session that the climate academies in kenya. the fairtrade foundation the showing farmers how to work economically despite the effects of climate change. 60 minutes.

coach a vision for the future linked to news from africa and the forum link to exceptional stories and discussion. of easy and while website damn you to come smash srikanth join us on facebook. africa. this is state of the news africa coming up in the next 15 minutes the ones who won't be silenced a beauty queen who's accused former gambian president of raping her 5 years ago is back in this country where she's encouraging victims of sexual violence to speak out. so i'm inspired by a woman tara motivated by all the horrendous other stories of being here and i think it's not fair for larger me to be in if you're told you're going to cause my silence protects what he has done to me to. the n.b.a. his 1st professional poskitt all need to outside.