13, February 2020
Nigeria wants launch of West Africa’s Eco currency delayed 0
This week in business on The Morning Call, Amelia Martha Nakitimbo looks at Nigeria’s call for a delay in the launch of the West African single currency.
The Nigerian Presidency in a tweet sent out on Monday “the convergence criteria between states” which have “not been met by the majority of countries.”
Meeting the convergence criteria has been a sort of glass ceiling hindering the realisation of this single currency over the last twenty years.
Also this week, Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo assured his counterparts that the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area will be operational by the 31st of March, 2020.
In a closed door session during the during the 33rd AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the premises have been already been furnished based on the specific requirements agreed with the AU Commission including the installation of critical Data and IT Infrastructure facilities and Security Systems.
The summit voted South Africa’s Wamkele Mene to be the first head of the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Source: Africa News
16, February 2020
Aviation body allows resumption of US flights south of Iran 0
US authorities have allowed airlines in the country to resume flying through the airspace south of Iran now that tensions between the two countries have subsided.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said on Saturday that flights can resume over much of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, adding that it had come to the conclusion that hostilities in the region had de-escalated.
The aviation watchdog enacted bans on entering parts of the airspace over Iraq, Iran and the Persian Gulf in early January when tensions flared up between Tehran and Washington over a series of incidents that even raised the prospects of war in the region.
Pilots and carriers were instructed to avoid the region because there was a risk that civilian aircraft could be confused with military planes operating in the area.
Concerns about the safety of flights deepened on January 8 when Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner flying from Tehran to Kiev.
All 176 people on board were killed in the incident which came hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two American military bases in Iraq.
The missile attacks had come in response to US airstrikes in early January that killed a top Iranian military commander along several Iranian and Iraqi military personnel.
Iran has taken full responsibility for the downing of the Boeing 737-800 operated by Ukraine International Airlines, saying it will do it best to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Aviation bodies in Europe as well as major airlines around the world have already removed bans on flights through the Iranian and Iraqi airspace.
Source: Presstv