KEPSA participated in the private sector regional workshop on preparing a roadmap for private sector engagement in the Horn of Africa that was held on 19^th September 2023 at a Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, organized by the World Bank. The Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI) was launched in October 2019 by the Ministers of Finance of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia to promote a coordinated approach to regional challenges and boost economic growth through improved connectivity, trade, energy access and human capital development.

The initiative calls for investments close to US$18 billion over the next decade by supporting the design and implementation of a series of projects in 4 key areas, corresponding to the 4 Pillars of the HoAI namely: 

1. Economic corridor development (Transport, energy, and digital networks);
2. Trade and economic integration;
3. Increasing resilience; and
4. Improvement of human capital.

The following were some of the core proposals floated by KEPSA for inclusion in the envisioned roadmap;

1. Sustainability of policies and legislations - Enhanced capacity building for government policymakers to ensure the Monitoring and Evaluation aspect of the policy formulation process is effective. This will mitigate the issues of duplicate policies and legislation that increase the cost of compliance and business. A proposal for the HoAI to consider supporting the fast-tracking of the Kenyan National Tax policy was floated. This policy could be used as a best practice document to align the tax regime in the region to boost investments in the region.
2. In order to bridge the financing gap toward spurring investments, there was a proposal to have the HoAI push for the formulation of a regional credit guarantee scheme by boosting the already existing credit guarantee schemes in the region to allow local Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to increase their investment capacity.
3. To boost and formalize the informal trade that was already happening at the borders of the Horn of Africa countries, there was a proposal to push for a unified payment platform leaning towards enhancing the implementation of the Pan African Payment System (PAPS) under the AfCFTA and to allow for trading using local currencies.

Besides the aforementioned proposals, the following were agreed as the next steps to be presented at the HoA Initiative Ministerial meeting slated for 3rd October 2023:

• Creation of a regional platform for regularly engaging business communities in the HoA for dialogue with national Governments in relation to the development of common policies in the area of investments;
• A program to strengthen the national statistical capacities of HoAI countries to guide investors’ decisions;
• Harmonize Investment regulations in HoAi States and align them to the AfCFTA Protocol on Investments;
• Develop cross-border SEZs at key HoA border areas;
• Adoption of a cluster development programs to promote the development of regional value chains; and
• Enhance the dispute resolution mechanisms in the HoA region, pegging on the dispute resolution protocol of AfCFTA.

The workshop saw the participation of various key stakeholders, including the Head of the Horn of Africa Secretariat, as well as representatives from organizations such as KEPSA, the Ethiopian Freight Forwarders and Shipping Agents Association, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KNCCI), Kenya’s Youth and Women in Trade and Business, the Chamber of Commerce of South Sudan, the South Sudan Women Entrepreneurs Association, the Somali Chamber of Commerce, the Somali Industry Association, the Somali Women in Business, the Chamber of Commerce of Djibouti, the Djibouti Importers and Exporters Syndicate, the Djibouti Freight Forwarders Association of Djibouti, and the Association of Women in Trade of Djibouti.