Dutch group Van Vliet Automotive has moved its Togolese subsidiary to the Industrial Platform of Adetikope. The company will sell and maintain its vehicles from there.
The subsidiary, Van Vliet Automotive Togo, occupies 9,000 m². It sells, maintains, and repairs MAN and Volkswagen trucks, buses, tractors, and semi-trailers. It also sells original spare parts and accessories.
Van Vliet’s arrival at the PIA results from a lease agreement that both sides sealed in March 2022. “This official installation attests to Van Vliet's commitment to get modern and suitable facilities, to better please its customers,” commented the PIA’s management.
Van Vliet has been active in Togo since 2017. It collaborates with many local transport companies, including the Société de transport de Lomé (SOTRAL).
Esaïe Edoh
Togo will spend CFA2 billion this year to revamp its tourism industry. That is around 58% of the annual budget of the Ministry of Tourism.
One of the key projects in which the money will be invested is a digital platform for hotel booking and big events. The Ministry of Tourism steers the project with the Ministry of Digital Economy. The project is set for completion this year.
Part of the CFA2 billion will be used to keep rehabilitating the country’s touristic sites. For example, the funds will accelerate the construction of the Kamina history museum (located 20 km from Atakpamé) which began in mid-2023.
The ongoing hotel complex and reforestation projects on the Koutammakou cultural heritage site should also speed up.
Two years ago, Togo received around a million visitors, almost the same as in 2021 when the country received 983,969 visitors, earning CFA25 billion in tourism revenues. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of visitors was around 480,000 and tourism revenues stood at CFA19 billion.
Esaïe Edoh
The European Union (EU) will support Togo’s budget with a CFA13.44 billion financing. This will add to another CFA10 billion recently disbursed to back the country’s 2023 budget.
In a statement dated January 22, 2024, the EU noted that the funds will support reforms set under the Togo 2025 Roadmap–especially reforms that foster decentralization, sustainable agribusiness, and access to social services for vulnerable communities.
"This budgetary support from the European Union illustrates the quality of the partnership and the existing trust between the Togolese Government and the European Union and its Member States, as we maintain a permanent dialogue in the Team Europe format in Lomé," said Tasso Vilallonga, EU Ambassador to Togo.
In an interview with Togo Breaking News, Villalonga noted that “the European Union’s budgetary support to Togo is a donation, not a loan, and it is based, of course, on trust in the partner country's public finance management."
However, the effective disbursement of this support is subject to compliance with certain conditions discussed between the two partners, notably the pursuit of certain reforms decided jointly. According to the same source, this agreement is part of the continuity of the "in-depth and ongoing dialogue" with the Togolese government, especially the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Togo secured over CFA95 billion from the EU in 2021-2024. Out of this amount, nearly CFA24 billion was disbursed to support the budget in 2023-2024.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Lomé will host the first ECOWAS Investment Forum (EIF) on April 4 and 5. The forum will be organized by the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID). Its theme is "Transforming ECOWAS communities in a challenging environment."
According to Ecofin Agency, the inauguration ceremony for the forum was held online on January 24. Key participants included the Togolese Minister of Economy, Sani Yaya, and the president of the EBID’s board of governors, Nialé Kaba. The upcoming forum is backed by Eximbank India.
The EIF will feature panel discussions, workshops, interactive sessions, and B2B meetings, and provide networking opportunities. It will also showcase various development models aimed at fostering family farming, strengthening food security, supporting SMEs, and investing in infrastructure.
The EBID currently seeks $1.48 billion for its 2021-2025 strategic plan, which aims to reduce investment deficit in the ECOWAS. The latter is estimated at $12 billion a year.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
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Togo will invest CFA2 billion in fishing and aquaculture this year. That is almost 70% of the CFA3.1 billion budget allocated to the Ministry of Maritime Economy.
Part of the CFA2 billion will fund the Togo Aquaculture Development Project launched in 2022.
Another part will fund projects to boost the country’s fish production, focusing on providing jobs to graduates of local aquaculture training centers or IFADs.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Maritime Economy, Edem Tengue, had declared: “The year 2024 promises to be full of challenges. We will have to experiment with new techniques, like the fish pooling systems, to cope in times of scarcity. Also, we are committed to fostering the integration of young people in aquaculture, notably through the IFADs, and experimenting in the Savanes region”.
More than 20,000 people work in the fishing sector in Togo. The sector contributes nearly 4.5% of the GDP, according to the Ministry of Maritime Economy.
Esaïe Edoh
A delegation of Turkish investors met Togo’s Minister of Investment Promotion, Manuela Santos, on January 17. They were led by the Turkish Ambassador to Togo, Muteber Kiliç.
During the meeting, the Togolese side presented key projects falling under the country’s 2025 roadmap, with a focus on the following sectors: energy, agriculture, and manufacturing. The goal was to spark the Turkish delegation’s interest.
Minister Santos took this opportunity to market Togo as a favorable destination for Turkish investors, as well as to discuss the strengthening of the Togo-Turkey relationship. Last year, the two partners signed an economic cooperation agreement and held a business day.
Togo stopped importing frozen poultry, temporarily. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, this is to help local producers sell their products as they "are having trouble disposing of stocks of locally produced poultry meat". The ministry noted that more than 70 tons of poultry currency sit idle in the cold rooms of poultry abattoirs.
In a notice dated January 22, 2024, Minister of Agriculture Antoine Lekpa Gbegbeni explained that the pause aims to “foster local production and consumption”. “The embargo’s lifting will be conditional on ‘the exhaustion of outstanding locally-produced stock,” he added.
Besides bolstering local production and consumption, the temporary ban could revive the matter of supporting local producers' competitiveness against foreign competitors, especially relative to production costs.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
President Faure Gnassingbé was in Cinkassé, in the Savanes region, last Sunday, January 21. In a speech to the region’s soldiers, the Togolese leader promised to do everything to protect the people of the northern region against the rising terrorist threat.
"If Mandouri is not at peace, Togo is not at peace. If Cinkassé is not at peace, Togo is not at peace. We will do everything to protect you", Faure Gnassingbé promised, informing of the intensification of actions particularly in the prefectures of Cinkassé, Kpendjal, and Kpendjal-ouest.
Gnassingbé then urged the people of the region to support the government in its effort to fight back terrorists. "Don't sleep on your laurels. Remain alert, keep helping the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and the administrative and political authorities, for it is together that we will preserve peace and security in the Savanes," he declared.
The Head of State also promised stronger actions to make concerned populations more resilient.
"Whether in the areas of rural tracks, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, and many others, we will keep making efforts to accelerate the implementation of socio-economic projects and programs. These mechanisms will help preserve security and combat terrorism," President Gnassingbé noted.
Esaïe Edoh
The National Inclusive Finance Fund of Togo (FNFI) wants to leverage biometric identification to track bad loan payers better. The Fund unveiled this ambition last Saturday, in a meeting with its partners and the press, in Lomé.
"With the biometric customer identification system, we will now have a reliable database," said Assih Mazamesso, Minister of Financial Inclusion and Organization of the Informal Sector. He explained that "if a customer is in the database of unpaid loans, they will be automatically identified using facial recognition at any microfinance window they go to for another loan. This initiative will enable us to strengthen the technical capabilities of microfinance and also to have a reliable database of potential customers."
The project's pilot phase was implemented two years ago. It produced satisfying results, with over 3,000 loans granted over the period it lasted. The loans amounted to CFA168.9 billion.
The FNFI celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Since its launch, the Fund has extended over two million loans, totaling CFA109.93 billion. To date, the entity has retrieved 93.51% of this amount.
Scheduled for October this year, the 9th Pan-African Congress has been moved a few days. Initially, the forum was scheduled to take place in Lomé from October 22 to 25. It will now take place from October 29 to November 2, in Lomé still. The change was revealed by the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, on January 18.
The Togolese official announced at the 7th meeting of the High Ministerial Committee on the Agenda for the Decade (2021-2031) of African Roots and the Diaspora. Held online, the recent meeting was organized in preparation for the coming Congress in the Togolese capital.
I was pleased to address today the 7th Meeting of the High Committee High Committee for the 2021-2031 Agenda, Decade of #African Roots and #Diasporas with Togo MFA Prof. @rdussey, to prepare the 9th Pan-African Congress for the “Renewal of #Pan-Africanism and #Africa's Place in… pic.twitter.com/7KKql9MeLD
— Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa (@mnsanzabaganwa) January 18, 2024
The 9th Pan-African Congress was announced several months ago. It will bring together Africans from the continent, the diaspora, as well as Afrodescendants. This year, the event’s theme is “Renewal of Pan-Africanism and Africa's Place in Global Governance: Mobilizing Resources and Reinventing for Action”.
Preparations for the Pan-African Congress began on May 22, 2023. More preparatory meetings will be held across the continent ahead of the event.