The U.S. will carry on negotiating with Kenya for its first free-trade agreement with a sub-Saharan economy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. President Joseph Biden’s administration is “looking forward to continue the ongoing discussions with regard to our FTA,” Blinken said Tuesday in a virtual meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Washington is keen on “seizing some of the opportunities that are out there, expanding trade and investment,” Blinken said. The talks that began under President Donald Trump‘s administration were placed under review to ensure any agreement aligns with Biden’s agenda, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said April 1 in a meeting with Kenyan Trade Secretary Betty Maina. The U.S.-Kenya deal is seen as a model for future trade pacts with African nations once a preferential trade agreement known as the Africa Growth Opportunity Act expires in 2025. When concluded, the pact will increase predictability and facilitate digital trade, according to a report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Kenya. It will also unlock opportunities in genetically modified organisms and improve intellectual-property protections, the lobby said in the report on Wednesday. Read original article

PRESS RELEASE In her first visit to Somaliland since her appointment in February, Ms. Foster joined President Muse Bihi in launching the main construction phase of the 22.5 km Hargeisa bypass. The UK-supported bypass will reduce the time and cost of transporting goods between Berbera Port and landlocked Ethiopia by addressing a strategic chokepoint on the Berbera corridor. In the construction phase, particular attention will be paid to climate proofing, ensuring the road is built to last. Protection of local heritage is also a key consideration, recognising the road’s proximity to the iconic Nasa Hablood hills – the symbol of Hargeisa city. The corridor is already facilitating the delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities in the wider region. The World Food Programme uses Berbera to bring 65% of its food aid into Ethiopia. With Ethiopia’s trade volumes projected to continue expanding, Berbera also represents an alternative for increasing trade and prosperity in the Horn of Africa. The continued development of the Berbera corridor will ensure that ordinary people from across Somaliland will benefit from inclusive economic development. Future UK support will focus on more efficient cross border trade between Somaliland and Ethiopia including through the use of one-stop border posts, cargo tracking systems and efficient regulation at the border. At the launch event, Somaliland President, Muse Bihi, said: I would like to thank the UK and partners for their role in investing in Somaliland’s infrastructure to boost the economy, which will help in service delivery as well as...

Ambassador Kate Foster, in her first visit to Somaliland, launches construction of the Hargeisa bypass The British Ambassador, Kate Foster, visited Hargeisa this week to reaffirm the strength of the UK's partnership with Somaliland including in the trade and development sector. In her first visit to Somaliland since her appointment in February, Ms. Foster joined President Muse Bihi in launching the main construction phase of the 22.5 km Hargeisa bypass. The UK-supported bypass will reduce the time and cost of transporting goods between Berbera Port and landlocked Ethiopia by addressing a strategic chokepoint on the Berbera corridor. In the construction phase, particular attention will be paid to climate proofing, ensuring the road is built to last. Protection of local heritage is also a key consideration, recognising the road's proximity to the iconic Nasa Hablood hills – the symbol of Hargeisa city. The corridor is already facilitating the delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities in the wider region. The World Food Programme uses Berbera to bring 65% of its food aid into Ethiopia. With Ethiopia's trade volumes projected to continue expanding, Berbera also represents an alternative for increasing trade and prosperity in the Horn of Africa. The continued development of the Berbera corridor will ensure that ordinary people from across Somaliland will benefit from inclusive economic development. Future UK support will focus on more efficient cross border trade between Somaliland and Ethiopia including through the use of one-stop border posts, cargo tracking systems and efficient regulation at the border....

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has shared a key sector that makes the Port of Mombasa stand out in the region. According to KPA, one of the essential key performance indicators (KPIs) in port operations and logistics is the truck turnaround time. For starters, truck turnaround time is the total time spent by a truck in the terminal area from gate-in to gate-out for picking and/or dropping a container. KPA says "It includes the time from the arrival, loading, and unloading of containers, inspecting a truck, completing documentation, and exiting the terminal." If truck turnaround time is shortened, it means the port's efficiency to serve the purpose is standard. How KPA is changing things KPA is currently expanding Kipevu Road from Gate 18 to Changamwe Roundabout to improve truck turnaround time and cargo offtake. KPA notes that the project is implemented jointly with Trademark East Africa. The project entails the construction of two additional lanes measuring 3m wide, 2 entry lanes with an extra canopy at the gate,1.5m footpaths on both sides of the road and 2.5m lane for motorized and non-motorized cycles on either side. It is 96 per cent complete. Read original article

TANZANIA Bureau of Standard (TBS) has introduced automated standardisation and quality control systems that would enable traders and manufacturers to access certificates or permits online. The system is centred to simplify standardisation of permits business, not only to the locals, but also regional or international investors. The system, introduced by TBS in partnership with Trademarks East Africa are Integrated Standard, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing (iSQMT), and e-Learning portal—an online system for conducting training to stakeholders. TBS Director General, Dr Athuman Ngenya, said some of the benefits including a reduction in time and transaction costs as stakeholders will no longer need to visit TBS offices for services related to standards and quality control, training, collection of permits and certificates. “Provision of automated services has largely reduced waiting and processing times and costs for TBS’s stakeholders to secure various services,” he said. Thus, through iSQMT, TBS has automated the following core processes, standards development, products certifications, import inspection, metrology and testing. “The data collected via the system will inform better decision making in the regulation and administration of the TBS process,” Dr Ngenya said over the weekend during the launch of the systems. Also, the iSQMT portal is integrated to the e-Government payment gateway platforms, which guarantee fully automated processes from application, payment and acquisition of the final products—certificate/permit. Due to the system introduction, TBS now predicts to significantly reduce incidences of loss and duplication of records since all the information required to process requests from stakeholders will be hosted within...

Local banks' failure to fully embrace trade financing is hindering growth of Kenya, regional exports to international markets, experts now say. This comes even as the country continues to push for trade deals, among them the recently concluded Economic Partnership Agreement(EPA) with the UK, and the ongoing talks for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US. While the country is seeking to grow its exports to the United States, it barely serves 23 per cent of the potential under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which expires in 2025, which eliminates import tariffs on goods from eligible African nations. According to the the Export Promotion Council of Kenya, the country is doing only one per cent (1%) of the potential in textile and apparel, where 10 countries account for almost 80 per cent of all US apparel imports with China topping the list with a 30 per cent share. “Trade finance is a pain to people seeking opportunities,” Export Promotion Council chairman Jaswinder Bedi said, during the launch of the 'Trade Finance Landscape Report' covering East Africa and the Horn of Africa. According to the report by TradeMark Africa and FSD Africa, costly loans are also making the regions uncompetitive, where 90 per cent of trade is financed by foreign banks. For instance the high interest rates in Kenya of above the seven per cent Central Bank of Kenya base lending rate, is making manufactures and trader in Kenya uncompetitive compared to the likes of China and India, who...

It's a sigh of relief for Busia County residents after the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) on Thursday placed an advert in newspapers seeking bids from eligible contractors for dualling of the Busia One Stop Border Post-Korinda road. KeNHA has invited similar bids for completion of outstanding and additional works for Malaba One-Stop Border Post. The move by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) to fast track the dualling of the busy road will end over five years of uncertainty with the Governor H.E Sospeter Ojaamong lauding TMA, the financiers, for the gesture. The Governor said the journey to dualize the road started in 2015 when he hosted the then British High Commissioner to Kenya Dr Christian Turner who offered to have the dualling of the road with a donation of Ksh300million from the British Government. The Governor said the road upgrade will bring a sigh of relief to his administration which had to endure criticisms from county residents over poor state of the road. "My government has been blamed on several occasions over claims I have refused to expand the road which is a preserve of the national government,” the Governor said. He added: " This is a Northern Corridor road to East and Central Africa and it was not the responsibility of my Government to maintain it,” the governor said in response to complaints that his administration had failed to maintain it." The Scope of work for the Busia OSBP road works will involve dualling of of the main...

AfCFTA As countries rebuild their economies following the impact of COVID-19, Africa needs to step up productive and infrastructural integration, stakeholders at a regional presentation of the African Regional Integration Index (ARII) have said. The index, a joint publication of the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission, provides up-to-date data on the status of regional integration in Africa and assesses the level of integration for every regional economic community and its member countries. The Index report underlines the need for a renewed commitment to regional integration within Africa, speakers said. They noted that the beginning of trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area in January 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic and its disruptive impact on movement and economies, had thrown this into a sharper focus. Director of Trade at the East African Community Secretariat, Rashid Kibowa, said the Index report has great potential to address the three major challenges currently facing the continent: the Covid-19 pandemic, implementation of the AfCFTA, and poverty reduction. “There is a need for more dialogue on the ARII and methodology issues to expand the scope of coverage of the assessed integration areas. The fundamental issues behind the ARII ought to be whether integration exists for Africa and whether it is effective in terms of achieving poverty reduction and socio-economic transformation for the continent,” said Kibowa. The report, released in May of last year, found that overall scores for countries in Southern and Eastern Africa show huge room...

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has adopted five new standards to boost safety and quality of food additives in the market. “The newly approved standards will provide basis to ascertain the quality, purity and safety of the food additives which is important, as first step to ensure safe use as guided by the General Standard for Food additives. As a matter of fact, the use of food additives in food processing is technologically unavoidable with emphasis on justifiable safe use hence the need to establish quality and safety specification standards. This will facilitate trade while ensuring safe and sufficient food for a growing economy,” says Ltd. Col. (Rtd) Bernard Njiraini, Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards. Demand for food additives has increased within the food industry creating the need for specifications to be formulated for commonly used additives to determine their quality and safety. In particular, the use of nonnutritive sweeteners for special dietary purposes in both foods and beverages (soft drinks) has increased in the recent years resulting in high volumes of their trade. These set of standards are the first in the priority list for food additives based on volume of use both in Kenya and the East Africa region thus facilitating trade. The Standards provides the criteria to determine the purity, safety and quality parameters for baker’s yeast, sucralose, aspartame, saccharin and baking powder. “Food additives will also be produced, prepared and handled in accordance with code of practice for hygiene in the food industry which...

“We need capital market collaboration in EAC to develop scale,” Kiprono Kittony said via his Twitter handle adding that  Kenya and Tanzania bourses are worth a combined $63B USD,  which is 6 per cent of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The 18th Edition of the Capital Markets Soundness Report (CMSR) for the Quarter ended March 2021, found out that the domestic capital markets remained sound attributed to low volatility in equity prices as the economy adjusted to the Pandemic. However, its liquidity and concentration risk persisted “as reflected in the low turnover ratio and high market concentration by few large-cap companies.” The East African Community (EAC) has four operational stock exchanges; the NSE, RSE, DSE, USE in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda respectively. A total of 110 companies are listed on the four exchanges; 62 on the NSE, 9 on the RSE, 21 on the DSE and 18 on the USE. “By the end of 2011, the four EAC stock exchanges commanded a combined equity market capitalisation of US$ 22 Billion for which NSE accounted for 55% with a market capitalisation of US$ 12 Billion,” according to data from the EAC portal. Besides a difference in the regulatory frameworks, EAC securities regulators and market participants have each formed regional associations to progress issues of capital markets integration. Some of them include the East African Securities Regulatory Authorities (EASRA) for securities regulators and the East African Stock Exchanges Association (EASEA) for market participants. According to the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2020,  Kenya was ranked 7th a...