Ahead of the Business Forum in China, President Faure Gnassingbé met various business moguls from the Middle Empire.

On Wednesday September 5, 2018, the leader met CEO of China Merchant Group Holdings, which holds 50% of Lomé Container Terminal (LCT). According to the communication cell of Togo’s presidency, the Chinese firm has most of port management assets in China, but its operations in Togo, Nigeria, Djibouti, Sri Lanka and Turkey are not marginal. Actually, operations in these nations recently grew by 5.7%.

During the meeting, both parties agreed to extend their partnership to the industrial sector. This would generate many jobs for the Togolese youth, among others.

Besides China Merchant Group Holdings, Togo’s president met on the same day with top executives of China Construction Bank, China’s second largest bank, to discuss potential investments in Togo, related to ore transportation infrastructures.

Meanwhile, a ministerial delegation from Togo met Yunfeng Diao, Vice President of Haier. The various parties discussed mainly about the modernization of industry and education, in Togo.

Séna Akoda

On September 5, Togo’s chamber of commerce and industry (CCIT) launched the very first edition of the 'Quinzaine commerciale des vacances', in Baguida (24km from Lomé).

The event is a trade fair and its opening was chaired by Johnson Kuéku-Banka, managing director of Togo’s center for expositions and fairs as well as representative of the minister of trade and private sector promotion.

Initiated by the CCIT in line with its vision to extend fairs to towns around Lomé and other parts of Togo, the current fair aims at boosting trade and helping business owners get more customers.

In his opening speech, Kuéka-Banka declared: “This fair shows the government’s will to boost economic integration via intra-community exchanges. It will be a real brainstorming platform that could lead to great partnerships”.

Togolese construction firm Gelloq-Togo has opened a subsidiary in Niamey, Niger.

The new branch will focus on activites such as studies, public works, civil engineering, construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of buildings, roads and hydraulic infrastructures.

The firm is interested in sanitization, siding, maintenance, painting, plumbing and electricity; import-export, trading and transportation, namely transportation of industrial equipment and raw materials, by road across West Africa.

Last July 19, a file containing the firm’s statutes was submitted to the clerk of Niamey’s Commercial court where Gelloq’s subsidiary is registered.

In Togo, the ministry of infrastructures plans to rehabilitate or build regional directorates of public works and sectors, as well as the rural roads directorate.

Leveraging a credit line falling under the 2018 State budget, the ministry seeks to hire a contractor who will carry out technical studies and elaborate bidding documents for targeted works. 

The ministry has in this regard addressed registered youths and women-entrepreneurs active in technical studies sector. This aligns with the government’s decision to set aside 20% of procurements to this group of individuals.

Overall, 31 entrepreneurs are called to bid to the tender. Tenders documents is grouped in a single lot. According to well-informed sources, the hired consultant will be chosen based on the quality of its services and the value of its offer.

For 2018, provisional amount of procurements reserved for this group of entrepreneurs is CFA40 billion.

Séna Akoda

On September 3, Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbé, met Liang Bin, CEO China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group to discuss the Lomé-Cinkassé railway project.

According to a statement released by the Togolese presidency, this meeting aligns with the President Gnassingbé’s will to make his country a logistics hub, and “identify all investment opportunities” in order to build the 600km-long railway.   

Liang Bin, during the meeting, said he was interested in the project which falls under Togo’s 2018-2022 National Development Plan (PND 2018-2022). In fact, the executive plans to visit Lomé soon in order to conclude talks with Togolese authorities.

Séna Akoda

Upon the 7th China-Africa Cooperation forum (Focac), which kicked off yesterday September 3, the Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé pleaded for an increase in Chinese investments in Africa. This was during a Round Table of Heads of State and Government, held today.

During this meeting co-chaired by Xi Jinping and Cyril Ramaphosa, Presidents of China and South Africa, respectively, Faure Gnassingbé first hailed the rapid growing trade between Africa and China. The trade volume had “multiplied by 17 between 2000 and 2017", he said. He also welcomed new opportunities for relationships between both sides. “I am happy that we are about hitting a new level for Focac, opening great common development prospects, with win-win cooperation plans. I would like to welcome this new breath of fresh air, and also plead for more investment,”  he added.

The President also mentioned the friendship which has diversified and strengthened despite “the extremely changing international business environment. Because like it or not, China and Africa will share a common destiny in the 21st century,”  he predicted.

To conclude his 5 minutes speech, Faure Gnassingbé invited partners “to extend the field of innovation experimentation in Africa, in a fruitful cooperation, especially with young people who represent the future”.

Let’s mention that at the end of this high-level meeting, two documents will be published: the "Beijing Declaration for Building a Closer Fate Community between China and Africa" and the "China-Africa Cooperation Forum Action Plan 2019-2021".

Octave A. Bruce

Morocco’s poultry sector association (FISA) is organizing, jointly with the Exports Control and Coordination Agency (EACCE), a B2B meeting with Togolese poultry sector’s players next September 25-27.

According to lematin.ma which reported the news, the initiative (which is part of a mission also covering Benin and Ghana), will allow both Moroccan and Togolese poultry farmers to explore business opportunities. The mission is in line with the “promotion of the Moroccan poultry sector and its export/investment capacities”.

It will mainly offer Moroccans the occasion to assess Togo's potential for investment. The implementation of such project should further boost the Togolese poultry sector, which performed well in recent years, in terms of productivity and growth. Over the period 2011-2017, the number of poultry increased from 8 million to over 20 million.

Togo’s revenues authority (Office Togolais des Recettes-OTR) is planning to implement the integrated public finance management system (Système Intégré de Gestion des Finances Publiques-SIGFIP). The institution in charge of tax and customs revenues collection is thus conforming to the new dynamic for a better management of public funds.

Indeed, this management system is said to have many advantages. It notably allows the secure registration of financial data, help prepare financial reports and connect decentralized financial audit units to the main center. It also facilitates operation record, permanent internal audit of data, transactions and financial reports production.

Its implementation by the OTR is prescribed in the framework of the tax administration support programme (Projet d’Appui à la Gouvernance Fiscale), funded by the African Development Bank via the African Development Fund.

A call for expression of interest has been launched to choose a cabinet for technical assistance for this implementation.

Séna Akoda