The Democratic Republic of Congo has applied to join the East African Community in a move that could potentially expand the boundaries of the trading bloc to the Atlantic coast of Africa. The application comes following months of talks between DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who chairs the East African Community. Sources familiar with the diplomatic talks that preceded the formal application say most EAC member states are enthusiastic about DR Congo's membership. The DRC officially communicated its intention to join the EAC in a letter to President Kagame dated June 8. Kinshasa said its desire to join the bloc was informed by its increasing trade ties with the region. In response, President Kagame directed the EAC Secretariat to table DR Congo's application for discussion at the next Heads of State Summit in November. If it meets the admission requirements, members will vote on its admission. GAME CHANGER The potential membership of the Central African country is being viewed as a game-changer, given its natural resources wealth and a huge consumer market of 81 million people. It is the world's biggest producer of cobalt, a major component in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, and Africa's main copper producer. It also a major producer of gold, diamonds, uranium, coltan, oil and other precious metals, making it one of the most resource-rich countries in the world. DR Congo is also host to the world's second-longest river, the Congo, vast swathes of fertile soil, potentially...

the Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Southern Africa (ACTESA), German Society for International Corporation (GIZ) and the Kenya Agribusiness and Agroindustry Alliance (KAAA), at the 15th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. CABI’s Dr George Oduor, Global Director Value Chains and Trade is leading the side event – entitled ‘Operationalizing AfCFTA – Partnerships and elimination of barriers to trade in Africa’ with a view to addressing some of the key challenges in agricultural value chains. Representatives from participating organizations, which also include various Ministries of Agriculture, FAO, AGRA, Common Market for East and Southern Africa, Economic Commission of West African States, Trademark East Africa and the East African Community (EAC), are taking part in the session which presents African countries and their development and technical partners with the opportunity to reflect together, share best practices and identify strategies and policies to foster integration, enhanced market access and intra-regional trade in agricultural commodities and services. “The agricultural market is growing and is currently estimated at more than US $3 trillion – about 70 percent of this comes from smallholder farmers, who are particularly vulnerable to production challenges including climate change”, said Dr Oduor. “Some of the key questions and talking points which will form the basis of the discussion will look at ways in which we can promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation.” Dr Oduor added that international trade and travel have expanded significantly in recent decades – increasing the rate...

Over seven hundred and eighty  micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya’s Lake Region are set to benefit from the new, ultra-modern Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) regional headquarters in Kisumu. The new facility not only houses the KEBS regional offices but is also equipped with four laboratories including Food and Agriculture, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Instrumentation. The laboratories will offer testing, metrology and calibration services to the Lake Region industries including fishing and fisheries, water purification and bottling, tea factories, grains and cereals, sugar, animal feeds, fertilizers and the hospitality sector. Speaking during the official opening of the facility, KEBS Ag. Managing Director Lt. Col (Rtd). Bernard Njiraini reiterated the institution’s commitment to promoting standardization in industry and trade at the county level through investing in requisite resources and infrastructure for standards development, conformity assessment, testing and metrology. “The Kisumu office will ensure that the region receives adequate support and assistance in all KEBS programmes through service delivery particularly in educational institutions and industries. As an institution, we want to ensure that there is efficient and effective service delivery in quality control and product certification in the water packaging and other food industries in the Lake region. This is in alignment with the national plan to standardize products and services in the country both at the national and county level,” said Mr. Njiraini. Over the years, through working with Lake Region stakeholders, KEBS has achieved tremendous success in a number of areas including product certification of Micro, Small and...

The private sector in South Sudan has been requested to spearhead the country's integration into the East African Community (EAC). "Private sector has to be anchored on predictable policy consistency at the socio-economic policy levels", said the EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko. He made the remarks last week during a sensitization workshop for private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Juba. The event was organized by South Sudan's ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs and the Arusha-based secretariat of the Community. Amb. Mfumukeko called for the speeding up of the country's integration into the EAC to pave way for the implementation of projects and programmes. South Sudan, the world's newest nation joined the EAC in August 2016 but is yet to be fully integrated into the bloc. Source: The Citizen

On May 30, 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement secured the minimum threshold of 22 ratifications for its entry into force. Sierra Leone and the Saharawi Republic were the 21st and the 22nd ratifications, required under Article 23 of the AfCFTA Agreement, for it to enter into force thirty days after deposit of the twenty second deposit. The Chairperson of the AUC Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, hailed the two deposits as timely and significant steps towards removing the fragmentation of African economies and markets, a process that is likely to create a large market for trade and investments on the continent. To operationalise the AfCFTA Agreement, the signatories must be ready to adopt supporting instruments (such as rules of origin, schedules of tariff concessions on trade in goods, online non-tariff barriers monitoring and elimination mechanism, digital payments and settlement platform, and African Trade Observatory Portal) to facilitate the launch of the operational phase of the Agreement. This process has to be firmed up by an Extraordinary Heads of State and Government summit due to take place on July 7, 2019. It’s quite important, however, to stress that a strong and sustained advocacy to have all AU Member States sign and ratify the AfCFTA Agreement. Like the Paris Agreement, which entered info force on 4 November 2016, after securing the minimum threshold of 55 Parties to the Convention almost a year after its signing, the AfCFTA Agreement was signed in Kigali, on 31 March 2018, making it the second...

The annual African Development Bank meeting took place this past week in Equatorial Guinea with the key subject of discussion, as is evident in the theme of the meetings - Regional Integration for Africa’s economic prosperity – being integration. “To integrate Africa, bring down the walls,” said Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the president of African Development Bank (AfDB), at the opening of the 25th annual meeting of the continental bank. Dr Adesina urged African governments to work towards the elimination of non-tariff barriers, saying ‘pulling down’ non-tariff barriers alone will spur trade by at least 53 per cent, and potentially double trade. According to the East African Community (EAC), the internal EAC market has about 146 million consumers, while the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) comprises 20 member states with a population of more than 460 million. Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi are all members of Comesa. The EAC was established in 1967 but collapsed along the way and was re-established in 2000. Its efforts play into the wider vision of the continental bank, now in its 55th year. This year’s opening ceremony was presided over by the host nation’s president, Mr Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Also in attendance were King Letsie III of Lesotho; president Félix Antoine Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, the Prime Minister of Eswatini (Swaziland). High-level government officials from Rwanda, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Côte d’Ivoire were also present. The State minister of Finance, Dr Gabriel...

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has launched a partnership with global technology firm mPedigree to improve the agro-inputs protection technology among its members. The partnership, launched under the COMESA Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) Seed programme, will help the bloc to eliminate faking and counterfeiting of agro-inputs materials like seeds and fertiliser among its member states. This move promises a deeper penetration into the supply chains and access to new ecosystem support for Kenya, where the technology is already in use. “The system will assist the region to not only eliminate cases of fake agro-inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and crop protection products, but also boost trade in quality and improved certified seed,” said Serlom Branttie, mPedigree Global Strategy Director. Fraudulent trade in fake agro-inputs has greatly contributed to the poor performance of over 80 million small-scale farmers and to food insecurity in the region. Source: Mediamax

AfDB’s President, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina mentioned it during the Banks Annual meetings that are currently undergoing in Malabo, Guinea. He specifically sought support in the areas of Agriculture and Industry but especially agri-industrialisation. Adesina noted that it was critical to link infrastructure projects with agriculture development and industrial development for the benefits to reach the common citizenry in EAC. Dr Adesina said the bank is also supporting establishment of an AfDB coordination and capacity building unit at the EAC HQs noting that the AfDB portfolio has grown and therefore need for more coordination, strategic and analytical capacity; He said the Bank is committed to present EAC bankable projects to the AfDB coordinated African Investment Forum in November 2019 in South Africa. A joint team of EAC and AfDB will work on preparing bankable projects for presentation to that effect. Adesina noted that the EAC is the most active and dynamic regional economic bloc with very clear results and a very high level of political momentum. He lauded the EAC for the great gains made in the implementation of the Customs Union and the Common Market. He specifically commended the progress in free movement of people and increased trade. He noted that EAC Countries are now issuing the East African e-Passport. Source: IPP Media

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday pointed out a number of challenges that disrupted the business environment in the east African nation and vowed to address them. Magufuli criticized state-owned institutions for creating unfavorable business climate. The president was addressing prominent businessmen in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam in a meeting broadcast live by state-owned television Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC). He said the existence of excessively complicated administrative procedures in government was one of the factors that discouraged sustainable growth of business activities. He told the business people from all districts and regions across the country that the current bureaucracy in the government made it difficult for the business environment to flourish in the country. Magufuli said the tax burden was another challenge particularly in the tourism sector. The head of state condemned the tendency of some local government authorities of introducing new taxes without prior consultations with the central government. The president admitted that despite the government's efforts to end corruption, there were still some government officials who embraced the malpractice. "I am aware there are some government officials at the Tanzania Revenue Authority and Tanzania Ports Authority and other authorities who demand and receive bribes from traders," he told the businessmen at State House. At the same time, Magufuli admitted that the government has for many years failed to put in place a proper mechanism to empower small-scale entrepreneurs. However, Magufuli reassured them of his government's commitment to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "The SMEs contribute...

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the organisation, has asked the EAC to put the discussion of DR Congo's membership on the agenda of the next heads of state meeting in November. The DR Congo shares borders with four of the six members of the bloc and Tshisekedi said on a visit to Tanzania -- home to its headquarters -- that he hoped membership would ease trade. "The Democratic Republic of Congo has recently requested membership of the East African Community. This will allow us to drop customs barriers and increase trade between our countries," Tshisekedi said at a dinner with his counterpart John Magufuli. "We are facing the challenge of regional integration that we must absolutely realise," he said, highlighting the need for cross-border transport and energy infrastructure. He gave his support to a planned railway linking Tanzania's port at Dar es Salaam to the eastern DRC via Rwanda -- one of several ambitious rail projects in the region. "Our countries must commit to development based on democracy and freedom so as to promote Africans so they can compete with other parts of the world," Tshisekedi said as he kicked off a two-day visit in Tanzania. Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the organisation, has asked the EAC to put the discussion of DRC's membership on the agenda of the next heads of state meeting in November, the East African newspaper reported Thursday. The DRC is already a member of the Southern African Development Community...