For the fourth consecutive year, Togo will hold, in October the Local Consumption Month. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Local Consumption announced the event on September 2. 

"Dear economic operators, managers of Togolese Très Petites, Petites et Moyennes Entreprises, producers, processors, and promoters of local products, the 4th edition of the Mois du Consommer Local is coming up in October 2023 with an enticing program for you," tweeted the Ministry of Commerce.

The upcoming edition will be an occasion to promote local goods and services and foster interest in them. 

The Local Consumption Month is an event that aligns with the decision taken by the ministers in charge of trade of the UEMOA member states in October 2019, relating to the reorientation of consumption patterns to enhance the value of nationals, through the transformation of local products and services.

Esaïe Edoh

Canada’s new ambassador to Togo, Ms. Martine Moreau, presented her credentials to the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, last week.

It was a pleasure to receive a copy of credentials letters of the new designated -Ambassador of Canada Mrs Martine Moreau in Lomé . The cooperation between Togo and Canada continues to strengthen! Happy to cement the next dynamic phase of our relationship #Canada #CanadaNews… pic.twitter.com/6xlhhZM3uo

— Robert Dussey (@rdussey) September 2, 2023

Like her predecessors, the Canadian Ambassador will be based in Ghana. Martine Moreau has several years of experience as a diplomat, and with this experience, she will continue strengthening cooperation between Canada and Togo. 

Her appointment comes at a time of increased bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Last June, Togo's Minister of Commerce, Kodjo Adedze, visited Canada, following multiple prospecting visits by Canadian investors to Togo.

The Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) has updated its provisions covering the handling of goods subject to Tariff Specification Codes (CST) and the use of donation certificates for exemptions and concessions.

The first change, which came into effect on September 1, extends the application of the CST to all computerized customs units across the country. Consequently, according to the OTR, "the handling of all goods subject to the CST is now effective in its offices."

The second provision mandates that donation certificates must now be signed by the actual donors of the goods to be valid and accepted.

"For donation certificates to be valid and accepted, they must be issued and signed by the actual donors of the goods. Therefore, per the provisions of the national customs code, any donation certificate issued and signed by an intermediary cannot be accepted for the benefit of exemptions and concessions," the Tax Authority said.

Lomé will host the first edition of the "Maritimafrica Week" from September 26 to 28. The event will be held under the theme: "Putting the blue economy at the service of Africa's development" and will bring together key players of Africa’s blue economy and their partners from other parts of the world. They will cover major issues and challenges of the maritime sector.

The event will feature an exhibition, conferences, and seminars (face-to-face and virtual), discovery tours of Togo's maritime infrastructures and blue economy, and B2B meetings.

According to the organizers, the meeting should produce measures that will strengthen coastal protection for a sustainable future, and contribute to women empowerment for a flourishing blue economy in Africa. Sustainable opportunities, challenges, and solutions for the future of the maritime sector will be widely addressed in this framework. 

"These panels offer the opportunity to present and share best practices with a targeted audience in Togo, Africa, and the world. This will highlight actions, and promote activities and services while strengthening credibility in the sector," organizers said. 

This first edition of "Maritimafrica Week" is committed to strengthening networking and offering access to new business opportunities. 

The event is an initiative of Maritimafrica, a bilingual (French/English) press group dedicated to the maritime sector in Africa.

Esaïe Edoh

The ECOWAS Community Committee for Conformity Assessment (ECOCONF) is currently meeting in Lomé to examine mechanisms to facilitate the free movement of goods within the community. 

"We will be working on the rules for mandating, but also on the regional recognition of the various conformity assessment bodies," said Olga Kouassi, Director of the ECOCONF’s Standards and Audit Office, and the Committee’s representative in Ivory Coast. "For this regional market to be assessed and inspected at the company level in each country, it is essential that inspection rules are harmonized, enabling each country to recognize certificates issued," she added.

The meeting opened on August 31 and on the occasion, the Togolese and Beninese winners of the second edition of the ECOWAS Quality Award were unveiled. The recipients include École Supérieure des Affaires (ESA), Cabinet Audit Expertise Comptable, both carried by Dr. Charles Birregah, from Togo, and Best Expert Conseil, from Benin, reports the Savoir News agency. 

To implement the reforms, ECOCONF is supported by the West African Competitiveness and Quality Infrastructure Project (WACOMP). Deployed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and financed by the European Union (EU), the WACOMP aims to boost the competitiveness of SMEs in the 16 countries covered, through the development of value chains (cassava and by-products; mango; textiles and clothing; information and communication technologies (ICT)) for greater production, processing, and export capabilities of the private sector. 

For Togolese stakeholders, the ongoing meeting also aims to harmonize the texts governing product inspection and control in each ECOWAS country, towards the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese capital, Lomé, will host on September 9 the Youth Delivery Lab (YDL). This is a roundtable that will focus on the civic participation of youth in tackling youth issues and decision-making. Organized by the Youth for Youth (Y4Y) association, the meeting is themed: "From the promotion of local SMEs to the emergence of national champions: strategic issues and possible solutions for Togo."

About 500 young people –professionals, entrepreneurs, students– active in various sectors are expected to attend. The end goal of the gathering is to encourage these participants to develop a culture of civic-mindedness and patriotism. The Youth Delivery Lab is intended to be a forum for young people's civic participation in the government's vision, as well as a framework for exchange, networking, and the sharing of best practices between young people. The initiative is also intended as a tool for innovation and dynamism among young people in the service of development. 

This 1st edition of the YDL, according to the organizers, is initiated "to offer Togolese youth a voluntary program of capacity building (soft skills) and experience sharing to improve their employability."  Registration is compulsory for participation.

A project to equip seventeen (17) villages with drinking water infrastructures is in the pipeline in Togo. The National Agency for Grassroots Development (ANADEB in French), which steers the project, just launched a nationwide tender to recruit contractors in this framework. 

The 17 villages are spread across the Plateaux and Maritime regions–12 in the former and 5 in the latter. The initiative is financially backed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD).

In each village, works to set up the equipment should take four months, "from the date of notification of the approved contract", ANADEB wrote in its tender notice.

Bidders have until 28 September 2023 to apply following "guidelines  for the procurement of works, goods and services financed by a BOAD loan or cash advance".

The upcoming equipment will add to others, already underway or planned, that are part of the Togolese government's efforts to improve the country's drinking water supply and distribution system. These efforts contribute to Lomé’s ambition to raise the water access rate to 85% nationwide, 95% in rural areas, 85% in semi-urban areas, 75% in urban areas outside Greater Lomé and 80% in Greater Lomé, by 2025.

Esaïe Edoh 

Togo held its first Investors Breakfast of the year last Tuesday. The event brought together the Ministry of Investment Promotion and representatives of the local business community, including lawyers, architects, notaries, and customs declarants. 

The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Investment Promotion, Rose Mivedor, and participants expressed their opinions-good and bad-on the changes in Togo’s business environment; changes induced by various reforms introduced in recent years. 

"Today's meeting, which brings together lawyers, architects, notaries and customs declarants, is an opportunity to exchange views on the progress made in terms of reforms operated by the Togolese government for the constant improvement of the business climate," said Minister Mivedor. "In addition, it will be a question of listening to you, in your capacity as interlocutors and prescribers to potential investors, and of identifying the difficulties that mark the investor's journey in our country,” she added.

During the meeting, the Business Climate Unit, attached to the Togolese Presidency, presented the latest improvements in Togo’s business environment.

Besides expressing their opinions, the actors present submitted their grievances to key stakeholders, to consolidate the reforms undertaken by the government and attract more investors. 

Collected contributions will help draw recommendations, which will, according to Kayi Mivedor,  help bolster Togo’s attractiveness. 

In the first quarter of this year, Togo validated 4 new investment projects, for a total amount of 19 billion FCFA, according to data from the Ministry. For the year 2022 as a whole, a total of 36 projects have been registered, including 18 under the Investment Code (CI) and 18 under the Free Trade Zone (ZF) status, for a total projected amount of 150.2 billion FCFA.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi