Modernizing Kenya’s ports and decongesting the Northern transport corridor will be a game changer in establishing the country as the regional gateway for trade. Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ukur Yatani speaking at the treasury Tuesday, while signing financing agreements with Trademark East Africa (TMA) said that reducing the time it takes to enter and exit our borders will make us the transit partner of choice for our regional neighbours. Yatani said that TMA has given Kenya financial assistance amounting to Sh1.3 billion which has been complemented with technical assistance for the economic development of the country and facilitating regional trade and integration in East Africa. “The four grant agreements worth Sh1.31 billion signed will facilitate trade and unlock the economic growth of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) given that this investment is in critical infrastructure,” said Yatani. He explained that the projects include the dualling of Magongo road in Mombasa where Sh200 million has been spent so far and it will form an important link for cargo leaving the Mombasa port and joining the Northern transport corridor and this will improve efficiency by reducing congestion and increasing road capacity. “Likewise the dualling of the two kilometer carriage way to Busia One Stop Border Post at Sh300 million will ease movement in and out of Kenya and into the region. The construction of the Busia cross border Jumuiya market at Sh485 million as earlier directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta will accommodate approximately 10, 000 traders and...

SUMMARY The 10,000-capacity Jumuiya market will provide for secure all-weather space, stores, stalls and cold rooms for perishables produce. Busia border point is strategically located along the Northern Corridor. It is an important gateway into the east and central African region. The project is being funded by both the government of Kenya and the TradeMark Africa (TMA). Traders in Busia market will benefit from Sh2 billion market to be built at the Kenya-Uganda border. The 10,000-capacity Jumuiya market will provide for secure all-weather space, stores, stalls and cold rooms for perishables produce. Busia border point is strategically located along the Northern Corridor. It is an important gateway into the east and central African region. The project is being funded by both the government of Kenya and the TradeMark Africa (TMA). The Treasury and TMA Wednesday signed four financing agreements of $13.1 million to support the construction of infrastructure projects in Mombasa, Malaba “with part of it going towards the Busia market. “TMA will partner with Ministry of East Africa Community to oversee the construction of the retail section. The Sh559 million comprise Sh74.3 million from GoK and Sh485 million from TMA as captured in the financing agreement,” said the Ministry of EAC. The market will be constructed on a 40-acre piece of land in Marachi on the Kenyan side of the border, which adjacent to the One-Stop Border Post. The market will comprise a retail section, a business hub and a wholesale section. A retail Section will include all-weather stores,...

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The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Donatille Mukabalisa, has said that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the need to embrace the savings culture. She made the observation on Monday, November 2, at a press briefing where she flagged off a countrywide tour of parliamentarians. The field visits, which run till November 8, aim to inspect government activities under the socioeconomic sectors amid Covid-19 pandemic, among other issues. MPs will discuss engage citizens on savings initiatives such as EjoHeza, the Speaker disclosed, adding that MPs will assess the budget use by the local government. EjoHeza is a pension scheme for informal sector workers. Increasing savings, Mukabalisa emphasised, is necessary to cushion citizens against adverse effects of emergencies. “The Covid-19 caused us major problems, but also provided lessons to us. We will talk to the people so that we establish whether they are using the savings initiatives that were established because you know that those who managed to save were not much affected [by the pandemic],” she said. “It [the Covid-19] thought us a lesson that requires us to find out whether residents are embracing the available [savings] initiatives.” Under EjoHeza, she said, there are categories of people that are entitled to savings support from the Government. Information from Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) – which administers EjoHeza— shows people in the first and second category of Ubudehe, the economically disadvantaged, must save a minimum of Rwf15,000 per year to qualify for the Government contribution equivalent to 100 per cent of...

In Summary The facility was planned to have been commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta in November last year. Rival projects between Uganda and Tanzania, including the $3.5 billion (Sh381 billion)Uganda–Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP), are among those that have left Kenya in the cold. Lack of political goodwill and rival regional projects are proving to be a headache for Kenya's ambitions to commission and fully operate the Kisumu Port, shippers have noted. Refurbishment of the facility at a cost of Sh700 million was completed in September last year, but its commissioning is yet to take place one year later, with the government shifting dates for its launch. The facility was planned to have been commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta in November last year. It was later pushed to January this year, an event the government has gone mum on to date, despite the President making several visits to the Lakeside city. In August, President Uhuru Kenyatta made a low key visit to Kisumu where he made an impromptu tour of the port, which took about 40 minutes. His most recent visit is last week when he landed at the facility during his tour of the region, with residents hoping he would address the delayed commissioning of the port which is expected to open up regional trade and create employment. Rival projects between Uganda and Tanzania, including the $3.5 billion (Sh381 billion)Uganda–Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP), are among those that have left Kenya in the cold, according to shippers. The Shippers...

In Summary For full transparency, the US published our FTA negotiating positions online for all to see. This is about America first and Kenya first — a win-win agreement. The 56-year-old US-Kenya relationship flourishes because we trust each other, respect each other, and our nations share common values. The US and Kenya believe in a strong economy through an open, free marketplace allowing entrepreneurs, businesses, and the private sector to thrive and create jobs. The African Growth and Opportunity Act enhanced markets, allowing Kenyan businesses to grow. The Act will expire in 2025 and, while it has been helpful, Agoa has not been transformative in driving the broad-based economic growth Kenya seeks. Kenya is ready for the next step, a US-Kenya Free Trade Agreement that will bring our relationship from reliance on tariff preferences that erode over time and can be unilaterally withdrawn, to an agreement that drives more efficient uses of resources and expands trade. While Kenyans hear a lot about the ongoing FTA negotiations, not all of it reflects reality. Many thoughtful Kenyans and Americans are engaged in these negotiations and recognise the FTA’s importance. Unfortunately, the negotiators are not the ones speaking publicly about the talks’ progress, leading to some unfruitful conversations. Let’s start at the beginning: Kenya is the powerhouse economy in East Africa and it makes sense that the US would look to Kenya as our partner for the first modern FTA in the region. To do that, we must look beyond Agoa to negotiate...

The Labour party has urged the UK trade secretary, Liz Truss, to end delays over rollover deals with Kenya and Ghana to prevent them being slapped with high tariffs when the UK leaves the EU on 1 January. Negotiations with Kenya and Ghana have yet to be signed off with only nine weeks to go before the UK’s transition deal with the EU comes to an end, when import charges would be imposed on goods worth £2.6bn from the African countries. Labour officials fear Truss is trying to drive a hard bargain with individual nations that depend on foreign income from sales of bananas, cocoa and flowers to the UK to make up for deals that largely favour foreign imports. With EU trade talks hanging in the balance and discussions with the US barely started, the trade department signed a deal with Japan last month that the shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, warned massively favoured the world’s third-largest economy. Shadow trade minister Gareth Thomas said in a letter to Truss that he was concerned that the department’s attention had switched from talks with the East African Community (EAC) trade bloc to bilateral deals with individual countries. He said that the failure to sign deals with Kenya and Ghana had left them unable to plan for next year and, worse, the current proposals left them facing duties on exports to the UK. “The terms of the continuity agreements you have been proposing would lead to new barriers to trade between both...

Representatives from the eight-member East Africa bloc are set to meet in the Kenyan capital Nairobi next week to assess the development for the regional infrastructure master plan due in December, the bloc said on Sunday. The two-day meeting organized by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) economic cooperation and social development division will seek to educate and inform stakeholders of way projects will be designed in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner with the necessary mitigation measures. The meeting will be attended by over 50 participants drawn from environmental and social issues connected NGOs and non-state actors from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Analysts say infrastructure development initiatives need to adhere to the right codes of environmental and social developmental requirements, espousing the motto of sustainable development. The regional infrastructure master plan is aimed at enhancing regional economic integration through trade, free movement of goods and persons and poverty reduction amongst IGAD Member States. The master plan is covering the regional sub-sectors of transport, ICT, energy and trans-boundary water resources. Read original article

Thirty-six Kenyan vegetable and fruit companies sold Sh235.22 million worth of produce at this year’s Macfrut Digital Trade Fair in Rimini, Italy. The three-day event, which was in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, was postponed in May amid disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The virtual exhibition saw exhibitors showcase products as well as attend business-to -business meetings with the world’s leading exporters, importers, technicians, experts and investors in value addition. “We are happy that even Covid-19 did not stop our Kenyan exporters from interacting with the world on the streets of Rimini and making sales. We will continue following up the exhibitors and update the confirmed orders and delivery for the next 12 months,” said the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency’s chief executive Wilfred Marube. Mr Marube said the agency will strengthen its technological infrastructure to diversify export promotion initiatives. “Going forward, we are creating an exporters portal for online engagement, meetings and exhibitions. This one will be a game-changer in promoting our exports since it will ensure that we are not limited by physical distance, space or even funds to contribute to the growth of exports. It will provide limitless and borderless opportunities,” he added. This comes at a time when statistics shows that horticulture earnings rose to Sh81 billion in the first half of the year from Sh76 billion in the same period last year, amid interruptions caused by the pandemic in the second quarter. This was boosted by higher demand for fruits and...

Regional trade has hit a snub as a result of the COVID-19 greatly affecting border communities and traders. But could there be a compromise to enable an accelerated bounce back? CNBC Africa’s Arnold Kwizera spoke to Trademark East Africa Country Director, Patience Mutesi Gatera for more. Read original article