Finland Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Pirkka Tapiola says his country is committed to doubling trade with Africa over the next decade. The ambassador spoke while touring the Port of Mombasa on Friday. The envoy commended the Government of Kenya and Development Partners for supporting Port Reforms and Modernisation Programme over the last decade that has dramatically improved evacuation of cargo at the facility. It for instance used to take 11 days to process imports through Mombasa in 2010, the time had fallen to only 5.5 days by 2017. The time to transport a container from Mombasa to Bujumbura also fell by 16.5% over the period. The Government of Finland, through TradeMark Africa has over the last decade invested more than US$13.1 million to support various projects in and around the Port of Mombasa. Finland also contributed US$445,000 to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) through the Safe Trade Emergency facility by TradeMark Africa, a project that sought to keep ports, borders, and critical supply chains in the region safe for trade at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ambassador was received by General Manager Human Resources and Administration Mr. Daniel Ogutu and TradeMark Africa Deputy CEO, Allen Asiimwe.  The KPA General Manager noted that the support provided at the outset of COVID-19 was critical in keeping the port running. He further noted that port output slowed down due to COVID-19-related interruptions, calling on all stakeholders to work together to address such challenges. TradeMark Africa Deputy CEO and Chief of Programmes...

26th February, Nairobi - United Kingdom (UK) Trade Envoy to Kenya Theo Clarke has today virtually visited projects funded by UK government in Kenya among them the Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS), Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) and Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECTDS) implemented in partnership with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Speaking during the virtual visit, attended by senior government officials and officials from TradeMark Africa (TMA), through which these projects were funded, the envoy underscored the special trade relationship between Kenya and the UK. Trade between the two nations was worth Ksh 79 billion in 2019 with the trade balance in favour of Kenya. Main Kenyan exports to the UK in the year were coffee, tea and spices at Ksh 18.6 billion (£121 million), vegetables at Ksh 12.1 billion (£79 million) and live plants mainly flowers at Ksh 8.3 billion (£54 million). The UK market accounted for 43% of total exports from Kenya as well as 9% of her cut flowers. British firms sold East Africa’s leading economy goods worth Ksh 125 billion (£815 million) mainly in machinery, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles. The UK is the largest European foreign investor in Kenya, with more than 100 British firms based in Kenya among them Vodafone, BAT, Diageo, Standard Chartered Bank, GlaxoSmithKline, ACTIS, Unilever and De La Rue. The UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Kenya, Theo Clarke MP, said: “I am pleased that during the day of my first virtual visit as the Prime Minister’s Trade...

When the COVID-19 pandemic crisis started; most people were extremely pessimistic and predicted that the EAC region would drown in terms of trade declining catastrophically. But in fact, the East Africa Community economies (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) have, by global standards, proven to be relatively resilient. The newly launched joint report by UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), TradeMark Africa (TMA) and African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) entitled “Waving or Drowning? The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on East African Trade” notes that declines in imports broadly reflected the adverse trade performance of the EAC’s main trading partners during the early phases of the pandemic in April and May 2020, but the imports of all the EAC Partner States subsequently recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the second half of 2020, after governments’ lockdown restrictions were eased, and a broader global trade recovery started to take place. Nonetheless, despite showing resilience, COVID-19 has reversed some of the gains made in trade facilitation. Immediately after COVID-19 outbreak, the ship dwell time at Mombasa port increased by 48% and Berth time increased by 52%. Cargo transit from Mombasa Port to Malaba (the border between Kenya and Uganda) increased from 7 days to 11 days by the second quarter of 2020. The time taken to transport goods via the Mombasa-Busia route was nearly three times higher. On the Central Corridor, the transit time from Dar-es-Salaam to various cities in the neighbouring countries more than doubled. The marked increase in transit...

This brief summarises and sets in context the results of the UK Department for International Development – DFID (now part of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – FCDO). Commissioned independent evaluation of TradeMark Africa (TMA) programmes, which includes support to the removal of Non-Tariff Barriers. With a focus on the East African Community (EAC) states (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan), TMA’s programme aims to support poverty alleviation for all, through a range of interventions implemented at the national and regional level. Key messages TMA’s work has contributed to eliminating NTBs in the EAC; TMA has deployed stakeholders effectively in its NTBs elimination activities, and it has mainstreamed gender considerations into its NTBs work; Results have included faster trade along the EAC trade corridors, and considerable savings from reduced trade times and simpler, quicker procedures. TMA’s NTBs work programme supports the reduction of trade times and costs in the region, but its precise impact is difficult to measure due to challenges in the monitoring and reporting system; Despite TMA’s contribution to eliminating NTBs, the number of barriers has increased due to increased protectionism and political and economic tensions between EAC countries; It is suggested that TMA’s ongoing work on NTBs should focus on the political economy of these barriers, to understand 1) how and why they arise, and 2) what are the conditions that would enable governments in the EAC to set up a sustainable mechanism to eliminate NTBs. Download the full document below [download id="56460"]  

Trade has evolved over the years from just being the engine for economic growth to being more responsive to equitable development, environmental stewardship, and green growth. Sustainable trade requires countries to tread carefully in balancing the triple bottom line of people, profits, and planet – each being dependent on the other. International standards aid this by providing a harmonized, stable and globally recognized framework for countries and business to operate and trade sustainably. In the context of sustainable trade, international standards help industries to proactively balance their short and medium-term goals with long-term resilience, minimise non-tariff barriers to trade, invest in efficient low carbon technologies and diversify their export mix. The standards also play a key role in strengthening social capital, reducing carbon emissions and climate change effects, and promoting sustainable use of natural resources by committing to high environmental and social standards in trade agreements. The greening of trade ensures that production, processing, transportation and trading of goods and services consider environmental impacts and basic human rights including gender equality and labour standards. A rapidly growing and lucrative “green market” exists for these sustainably produced low carbon products and developing countries can tap into such markets especially in developed countries by diversifying more into green/ environmental goods and services to remain competitive. Similar issues are assessed by foreign corporations when deciding where to invest their capital, technology, and expertise which is of importance to any country aiming at improving their ranking in the development ladder. This year’s World Standards...