The Chamber of Trade and Industry of Togo (CCI-Togo) set up regional consular electoral commissions (CECR) yesterday, November 14. The new bodies will oversee member registration in the framework of the Chamber’s coming elections.

"Today's installation and training ceremony is a very important step that allows CECR members to take up their duties and measure the importance of the electoral process concerning the Electoral Support Agents per prefecture, among others.", said Dintangue Kominte, President of the Consular Electoral Commission.

On the same occasion, the nine members of the Greater Lomé regional consular chamber were introduced to the public. The ceremony also marked the start of training for electoral support agents for Greater Lomé.

Key figures present at the ceremony included Karine Adotevi Edoh, Managing Director, CCI-Togo, and Tagba Ataféyinam Tchalim, General Secretary of the Greater Lomé District.

According to Tchalim, setting up the CECRs "marks the start of a crucial electoral process for the renewal of the governing bodies of the Togo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”

The move is the latest development in the reform process initiated by the CCI-Togo several months ago. The forthcoming elections will see the installation of a new bureau and new bodies to replace the current interim team, which has been in place for two years.

Togo and the World Bank are working on a major project to transform and modernize the country’s agricultural industry. Filly Sissoko, resident representative of the Bank, revealed the initiative on November 13, in the Avé prefecture (around 50 km northwest of Lomé, the capital). 

Sissoko revealed that the project “is not a short term, but mid or long term project, going from five to 10 years, with important financing”. And according to the Institution he represents, it will cover the 2024-2030 period and cost $100 million. 

The project should focus on water management, mechanization of farming operations, proven technologies, quality inputs, and processing of agricultural products.

Filly Sissoko was in Avé with Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira, World Bank Operations Director for Togo. The two were visiting the Planned Agricultural Development Zone of Agnron (ZAAP) in the prefecture. This is a government project backed by the World Bank.

On the occasion, Uwanyiligira said the Bretton Woods institution wants to bring the project to scale, ultimately helping agriculture “become a productive and contributing sector”. 

The ZAAP of Agnron covers several hectares and is occupied by 80 farmers–60 women and 20 men. From 2020 to now, the project helped increase the yields of its beneficiaries from 600 kg/ha to 3 t/ha.

UK Holding officially started operations in Togo a week ago, on November 8. The infrastructure, trade, and intermediation group will operate across five areas in the country. 

The firm’s CEO, Innocent Kagbara, said it would offer capital trading services to investors in infrastructure construction,  as well as supply equipment for hotels, hospitals and leisure centers. Kagbara, who is also a Togolese deputy, added that the group would also support companies with sales of close to €5 billion.

UK Holding will also operate in logistics and maritime transportation and plans investments in housing. The group has subsidiaries in agriculture, husbandry, construction, land development, and investment. 

The Lomé-based group aims to become an African giant in financial intermediation by 2030. "We want to capture capital to come and carry out structuring projects in our country ", said Innocent Kagbara, forecasting the creation of several direct and indirect jobs.

Esaïe Edoh

The Ministry of tourism and culture of Togo launched last week a project to preserve and promote the country’s endogenous dances, which are on the verge of extinction. The UNESCO-funded project will be steered by Association Culture-Développement (CULT-DEV). 

The project will take place in several phases, including the identification, preservation, valorization, and promotion of dances across the various communities covered. Dances identified will be classified by category, with descriptions of their performance techniques, music, rhythms and context. Their social, spiritual, symbolic and secular roles within the various communities will also be highlighted.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the project results from the general inventory of intangible cultural heritage carried out in 2011, which recorded the disappearance of 75 dances. Earlier, surveys carried out in 1982 deplored the disappearance of 132 dances and associated practices.

For this project, around 40 agents will be trained and deployed in the field for data collection, monitoring and evaluation, and data processing before the directories are drawn up.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo’s Tax Authority, the OTR, kicked off the first edition of the New Business Week on November 13. Set to end on November 17, the event takes place in Lomé, the capital. 

Targeting especially businesses that officially registered this year, the New Business Week aims to help these companies better understand their rights and obligations as taxpayers.

For its part, the OTR’s goal through the event is to make the new businesses more tax-compliant and bolster cooperation between the OTR and the private sector. "By providing detailed information and practical advice, the OTR aims to strengthen tax compliance while facilitating the development and growth of these emerging businesses," the OTR stated.

Over the week, participants will take part in interactive workshops, informative seminars, and Q&A sessions led by tax experts. Thus, the entrepreneurs will obtain precise answers to their concerns, while expanding their business network.

In the first semester of this year, nearly 8,300 new businesses were registered at the Centre for Business Formalities (CFE), and 78% of these businesses were set up by men and 27% by women only.

Mobile operator Togocom and public-private joint venture CsquaredWoezon signed a partnership agreement agreement on November 9. Under the deal, the joint venture, which manages Google’s "Equiano" submarine cable in Togo, is to supply 30 gigabits of bandwidth to Togocom over a 10 years, via the cable. The partnership will help Togo bolster its internet offering.

"The main interest of this partnership between Togocom and Csquared is to obtain a new international route for all Togolese customers, which will enable them to obtain a better quality of service and better availability of the Internet connection.", said Pierre-Antoine Legagneur, Togocom General Manager. "This new cable, based on cutting-edge technology, will offer faster Internet, and we will be able to increase capacity as our customers' needs evolve," he added.

Also commenting on the agreement, Csquared's country head noted that "recently, minor disruptions have affected Togocom's network. By signing this partnership with Csquared, such interruptions will never happen again. As a result, Togolese citizens will always be able to count on quality connectivity."

Togocom already had similar agreements for the WACS (West African Cable System) and ACE (AfricanCoast to Europe) submarine cables, for Internet provision. By taking advantage of Csquared's offer, the cell phone company and Internet service provider should be able to offer a total bandwidth of 130 gigabits to consumers in Togo.

In Togo, the Equiano cable has been operational since August 2023, according to CsquaredWoezon.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Held in Marrakech, Morocco, the Africa Investment Forum ends today. Togo was represented at the event by its Minister of Investment Promotion, Manuella Santoshe.

At the forum, the Togolese official presented various projects, including the railway project, going from Lomé to Cinkassé, and the undergoing Unité highway project, both of which require substantial funding. She also presented the various investment opportunities that make Togo a perfect investment destination.

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Le #Togo a l'honneur de participer depuis ce matin à #Marrakech, au #Maroc, à l'Africa Investment Forum, sous le leadership de SEM… pic.twitter.com/0RI8739ciV

— Manuella M. Santos (@Manu_EllaSantos) November 8, 2023

According to Santos, the AfDB is available to support structuring projects emanating from well-organized value chains, "a challenge that the Togolese government is working tirelessly to meet through courageous reforms".

Kicked off on November 8,  the Africa Investment Forum showcases economic opportunities in Africa. This year, the theme of the forum was “Unlocking Africa’s Value Chains”.

The event brought together international investors, financial leaders, and decision-makers who explored the continent's growth prospects.

Esaïe Edoh

Climate hazards cost Togo CFA26 billion in 2020, due to productivity losses. The figure, equivalent to 1.23% of the national GDP, was released by the Ministry of the Environment. The same year, the country lost 6,900 hectares of arable land and 9,000 tons of yields to flooding. 

The ministry disclosed the figures on November 9 in Lomé, ahead of the COP28 Conference which is set to take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023, in Dubai.

"It goes without saying that the phenomenon of global warming will continue to seriously hamper our march towards development and prosperity if nothing is done to change the development paradigm and steer our economies towards a low-carbon development model that is resilient to these changes," said the Minister of Environment.

The worst years in the past decade 

According to the National Civil Protection Agency's (ANPC) 2022 disaster risk assessment report, the impact of climate hazards, particularly flooding, worsened between 2018 and 2020.

The country was most affected by floods, storms, and high winds in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The proportion of the the population affected by these phenomena rose by more than 700% between 2018 and 2019, from 2,875 to 24,902 people, and almost doubled, between 2019 and 2020, to 45,361 people, according to the report.

Most affected prefectures

In 2022, the prefectures most affected by climate hazards in Togo were the Bas-Mono prefecture, with 7,989 flood victims; Tône prefecture, with 6,148 victims of floods, fires, and high winds; Lacs prefecture, with 5,127 victims of floods and fires; and Est-Mono prefecture, with 3,441 flood victims.

Nevertheless, in recent years, Togo has strengthened its legal and legislative system relative to the fight against climate change. Last May, the government announced it was ready to pass a law to fight climate change; and a little earlier, it had adopted a bill to boost the country’s carbon storage.   

Ayi Renaud Dossavi