Arusha. Comesa and the South African Development Community (Sadc) blocs remain the leading trading partners for the East African Community (EAC). Statistics indicate so even as the envisaged African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is set for launch in July. EAC partner states' exports to the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), made up of Sadc, Comesa and the Community itself, were worth $ 2.5billion between 2010 and 2016. During the same period, EAC exports to the rest of Africa on average amounted to $ 312.4million, a report has indicated. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is leading the pack with a 29.7 per cent share of exports from the EAC. It is closely followed by the continent's economic power house, South Africa, with a 29.5 per cent of the shares, according to the East African Business Council (EABC). Other leading trading partners for the Community were Egypt and Zambia (9.5 per cent each), Sudan (7.2 per cent) and the Comoros 3.8 per cent. DR Congo also leads in imports to the EAC with a 39 per cent share followed by Somalia (28 per cent, Nigeria (11 per cent) and Morocco and Algeria 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. The brief was released during last week's meeting here to deliberate on the road map by EAC on the continental free trade pact. TFTA is made up of EAC, Sadc and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and was initiated to become the continent's single economic bloc....

> Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) admitted yesterday that tariff liberalisation was a challenge to the proposed continental free trade area. It says a mechanism has to be worked out on how tariffs would be liberalised without affecting the economies of various trading blocs. “Tariff liberation has not been easy and there has to be a mechanism to negotiate it,” said Mr Kenneth Bagamuhunda, the EAC director general of Customs and Trade. He was speaking during a meeting on the role the private sector on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) expected to come into force in July this year. The trade pact was unveiled by the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda, a year ago and is aimed at boosting intra-African trade currently estimated to be a half of its potential. He said EAC would negotiate on tariff liberalisation within the continental FTA framework “in a holistic way and as a bloc”. He added that the East African Business Council has been given a platform to spearhead the negotiations on behalf of the bloc. Source: The Citizen

Kenya and Tanzania have agreed to fully implement a single customs territory to fasten clearance of goods. The two states also struck a deal to fast track the harmonisation of domestic taxes, levies and fees in a bid to ease trade between them. This will come as good news for traders in landlocked East Africa countries who have been pushing for a single customs bond guarantee scheme for the whole region amid concerns that high cost of complying with Kenyan and Tanzanian laws have raised their cost of production. The two countries also agreed to follow procedures stipulated in the East African Community (EAC) Customs Management Act, 2004 and Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing Act, 2016 in the inspection and clearance of goods. COMESA Tanzania is the only EAC state that does not recognise the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Customs Bond Guarantee Scheme which shippers execute at the Mombasa port to move goods through Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan. The country also does not belong to the Comesa trading bloc, having opted to integrate its market with Southern Africa Development Community countries. The deal was struck during the fourth bilateral trade meeting on non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade held in Arusha between April 23 and 27. During the meeting, Kenya was represented by Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo while Tanzania had its Industry and Trade Minister Joseph George Kakunda. “Pursuant to the meeting, it was agreed to fast track the process of verification...

THE East African Community (EAC) is now eyeing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in capitalizing trading opportunities with other regional blocs. EAC’s Director General in charge of Customs and Trade, Mr Kenneth Bagamuhunda said here yesterday that the regional intergovernmental organization is hinging on the free trade agreement as a way of removing trade barriers on the continent. Mr Bagamuhunda who was speaking at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the East African Business Council (EABC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) sensitization workshop on the envisaged AfCFTA, disclosed that the regional economic bloc was ready to embrace and implement the agreement in enhancing trade with other continental blocs. According to Mr Bagamuhinda, the EAC has prerequisite provisions that could cushion the implementation of the initiative come July 1, this year. “The EAC is the only economic bloc with provisions on non-tariff barriers and laws on standard of products, the community has taken the lead in putting in place a sound policy environment ahead of the agreement,” said the EAC official who was representing the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Libérat Mfumukeko at the workshop. The EAC’s Director General in charge of Customs and Trade further said that EAC had registered significant step in matters of integration, urging other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to follow suit. “We, at the EAC have realized a deeper integration, it suffices to say that we are AfCFTA’s mini lab,” he explained. Despite registering major strides in integration, Mr Bagamuhunda...

President Uhuru Kenyatta today witnessed the signing of two project delivery agreements totalling to Sh67 billion through concessional financing and Public-Private Partnership. The projects include the Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project to be undertaken by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei at a cost of Sh17.5 billion and the construction of the Nairobi JKIA to James Gichuru expressway on a PPP arrangement by the China Road and Bridge Corporation for Sh51 billion. Also signed is the operation and maintenance service agreement for the Nairobi to Naivasha segment of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). The Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities Project was conceived in 2017 by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology and Huawei, and entails the development of core ICT infrastructure which includes National Cloud Data Centre, Smart ICT Network, Public Safe City and Smart Traffic Solution, and Government Cloud and Enterprise Service. Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities Project is part of the Konza Techno City, a Vision 2030 flagship project started in 2008 and is aimed at developing technology-intensive and high-tech industries in ICT, biotechnology and e-commerce. Phase I of the project is estimated to create over 17,000 jobs and contribute an estimated Sh90 billion to the Kenyan economy. The construction of the JKIA to James Gichuru expressway is expected to ease traffic flow on the busy Mombasa highway as part of the ongoing interventions by the Government to decongest key roads in Nairobi. The expressway will be the first of its kind in...

Tanga. Modernisation of Tanga Port took a great leap here after it acquired 80 per cent of earmarked new modern cargo handling equipment and machinery that enables it to cut cargo handling time to 12 hours. Tanga Port manager Percival Salama said here that the port has already received 16 new cargo handling equipment out of the 20 that it has earmarked to receive in the 2018/2019 fiscal year. Mr Salama told a group of 20 visiting journalists from Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions that the Tanzania Ports Authority has maintained its efforts to improve the performance of the port through acquiring new and modern port handling equipment and intensifying its marketing drive. “The goal is to reduce the cost of doing business with the Tanga Port with a long term aim of raising the port to higher levels and making it the most important facility along the eastern Africa coast,” he added. He explained that reduction of cargo handling time results in the port, shippers and cargo owners to avoid demurrage charges. According to available information, 65 per cent of costs that shippers incur at the port resulting from delays in handling cargo. Mr Salama mentioned the new equipment that the port has so far acquired two new reachstackers, which, at a capacity to handle 45 tons each, have catapulted the port to the capacity to handle even the biggest cargo in the world. Other equipment include two 100-ton Gottwald harbour mobile cranes and two harbour all terrain mobile cranes...

Kenya's economy grew by 6.3 percent in 2018, helped by an impressive growth in agriculture, manufacturing and transport sectors. This was an rebound from the 4.7 percent growth in 2017, the slowest growth in five years -- amid effects of an adverse weather and political jitters in the election year. The agriculture sector grew by 6.6 percent, the highest in five years, data from the Economic Survey 2019 released on Thursday shows. Agriculture accounts for close to a third of Kenya’s annual economic output. Transport and storage services sector also grew to a five-year high of 8.8 percent. Manufacturing sector grew at a faster rate of 4.2 percent in 2018, compared with 0.5 percent in 2017. Slower pace However, the construction sector grew at a slower pace of 6.6 percent compared with 8.5 percent in 2017. The economic survey data shows that the country's financial sector grew at 5.6 percent in 2018 compared with 2.8 percent the previous year. Fastest growing Kenya, East Africa’s richest economy, is one of the fastest growing areas on the continent but its performance is often hit by drought. Violence after a December 2007 presidential election and disputes over the following two polls led some investors to scale back investment, hurting growth. Missed revenue targets, rising public debt and uncontrolled expenditure have also emerged as concerns for investors in recent years. The World Bank trimmed its 2019 economic growth forecast for Kenya to 5.7 percent from an earlier forecast of 5.8 percent due to a delayed...

This year we celebrate the 55th anniversary of bilateral relations between Kenya and the Netherlands. Our close and cordial relationship has matured over the years into the trade partnership it is today: The Netherlands remains one of Kenya’s most important trade partners, having been consistently among the top five exporting destinations globally and the first in Europe for the last five years. The Netherlands sees Kenya’s vibrant private sector as an important conduit to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals as well as Kenya’s Big Four agenda. Kenya continues to be an important development partner as annually over 80 million Euros in official development assistance from the Netherlands find their way into Kenya. The Dutch development bank FMO also has a large investment portfolio in Kenya. As we aim to build on this cooperation in key sectors such as food security, agriculture and water, the Netherlands works with Kenyan counterparts to strengthen strategic value chains. Having worked as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya for four years now, I continue to be amazed at the many innovations I come across. The Netherlands often plays a role in these innovative approaches. Kenya rates as the fifth most innovative economy in Africa, whereas the Netherlands, according to the Global Innovation Index 2018, is the second-most innovative economy in the world. Innovation is widely recognised as a central driver for economic growth and development and, therefore, the Netherlands and Kenya truly are progressive partners in innovation. Let me...

The African Continental Free Trade Area isn't simply a 'Free Trade Agreement' it's about establishing a unified continental market with 1.2 billion potential customers and where the private sector is a major engine to make it happen. This was the tone from the discussions of the meeting held on Thursday in Arusha about how the East African Private sector and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could benefit from the AfCFTA. The one-day meeting, organised jointly between the East African Business Council (EABC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), convened close to 40 key players from the region's private sector. The office for Eastern Africa of ECA estimates large potential gains from the AfCFTA, including an increase in intra-African exports of Eastern Africa by nearly US$ 1 billion and job creation of 0.5 to 1.9 million. "Together African economies have a collective GDP of 2.5 trillion USD, making it the 8thlargest economy in the world. That makes the continent much more attractive to investment, both from within and from outside the continent", said Andrew Mold, Acting Director of ECA in Eastern Africa. "This should encourage business people to take advantage of AfCFTA and make the investments necessary to sustain economic growth and create employment". Nick Nesbitt, Chairman of EABC, emphasized the importance of the continent having a clear vision to put an end to the fragmentation of the internal market. "I really applaud everybody who has involved in creating the AfCFTA because their vision is the one of...

East Africa received a combined sum of $2.96b in foreign direct investment (FDI) from China between 2011 and 2017, according to data from the China-Africa Research Initiative. The findings contained in data compiled by China-Africa Research Initiative, under the John Hopkins University, which tracks the country’s activities in Africa signals China’s increased interest in the East African region that continues to be a key recipient of the Asian country’s investments. The data, which was sourced from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), indicates that Kenya, which received $1.3b had the largest share of FDI from China followed by Tanzania, which received $890m between 2011 and 2017. Uganda, which has in the last five years become a key Chinese partner, received $536m, mainly in the energy, transport and communication sectors. However, Chinese companies with construction projects in Uganda have in the last 20 years seen rising earnings grossing about $8.7b (Shs32.6 trillion) in the last 20 years. Burundi received a total of $9.91m while South Sudan and Rwanda received $39m and 18m, respectively in the period under review. The $2.96b, according to the data, is a huge growth from the $307.76m, which the region received between 2004 and 2010. During the period, Kenya received $166.38m in FDI followed by Tanzania, which grossed $76.82m in the period. Rwanda received $38.22m, while Uganda and Burundi received $25.65m and $0.69m, respectively. South Sudan, which was then still part of Sudan, did not receive any FDI from China. East Africa has in the...