Arusha. Baraza la Biashara la Afrika Mashariki (EABC) limesaini mkataba wa makubaliano wa miaka mitano na taasisi ya Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) kutekeleza mradi wa kuondoa vikwazo kwa wafanyabiashara katika nchi za Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki (EAC) unaoanza mwaka huu. Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa EABC, Peter Mathuki amesema leo Jumatatu April 15, 2019 kuwa watashirikiana na Srikali za nchi za EAC kuona namna ya kuondoa vikwazo hivyo ikiwa ni pamoja na kuwajengea uwezo maafisa wa Serikali wanaohusika kwenye maeneo ya mipakani. Amesema kiwango cha kufanya biashara baina ya nchi za EAC kipo chini ya asilimia 20 ukilinganisha na nchi za Maendeleo ya Kusini mwa Afrika (Sadc) ambapo ni asilimia 58 wakati nchi za Umoja wa Ulaya ni asilimia 68. “Lengo la mradi huu ni kuona namna ya kuinua kiwango cha biashara katika nchi zetu, mtakumbuka wakati wa mkutano wa Marais wa EAC uliofanyika hivi karibuni wote walisisitiza umuhimu wa hizi nchi kuongeza kiwango cha kufanya biashara miongoni mwetu ili wananchi waweze kunufaika,” amesema Mathuki. Amesema uamuzi wa TMA kushirikiana na EABC unaonyesha imani waliyonayo katika kusukuma ajenda ya EAC ya kuwawezesha wananchi kunufaika na jumuiya kwa kuvuka mipaka kwa ajili ya kuuza na kununua bidhaa mbalimbali. Mathuki amesema tayari vikwazo vya biashara 47 vimeshatatuliwa huku vikwazo 17 bado havijapatiwa ufumbuzi jambo ambalo linarudisha nyuma ufanisi wa kufanya biashara katika nchi hizo. Kwa upande wake, Kaimu Mkurugenzi wa TMA anayeshughulikia Sekta Binafsi, Allan Ngugi amesema wamekua na ushirikiano na EABC tangu mwaka 2010 na uhusiano wao umekua mzuri hatua inayowapa nafasi...

This takes place even as the council in collaboration with TradeMark Africa (TMA) launched the regional programme on Public-Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment from 2019 to 2023. According to EABC Chief Executive Mr Peter Mathuki said “The project aims to enhance advocacy and dialogue on transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs & tax, standards, and NTBs at regional and country level. In addition, the programme extends beyond the EAC and incorporates the COMESA, COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).” “Public-Private Dialogue can facilitate the trade & investment climate reforms by promoting better diagnosis of investment climate problems, transparency and inclusive design of policy reforms making policies easier to implement. TMA launched this new partnership with EABC to galvanize and facilitate trade and investments in the EAC,” said Mr. Allan Ngugi, Ag. Director Private Sector Advocacy TMA. For businesses in the region to grow and expand within and beyond the EA, there is a need for technical and financial support to EABC in a bid to advocate and input substantive issues affecting the business community in regard to policy formulation and implementation in the region. According to Mr Mathuki businesses should proactively engage the East African Community through EABC given the proximity advantage that the EAC and EABC Secretariat are located in Arusha. He noted there is a need to remove Non-Tariff Barriers and embark on trading proactively with the neighboring countries even before venturing outside the continent. “Let’s spur business...

The recent tour of the Port of Mombasa by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) ride  from to Nairobi has given the new rail line the much needed endorsement as the best bet for moving cargo and people between Kenya and Uganda. The visit has also renewed growth prospects for the port which faces threats from Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam and Tanga ports, especially after the southern neighbour announced plans to expand the two facilities. Dar es Salaam port which has been eating on Kenya’s transit cargo to Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda has been undergoing transformation which has seen its competitiveness rise. Construction of Bagamoyo port and its affiliate special economic zone, which are expected to begin operation by 2022 is also posing a major threat to Kenya. However, to sustain its competitive advantage, Kenya has linked SGR to the Port of Mombasa and completed the construction of the first phase of the second container terminal which has been operational since April 2016. The second container terminal is a key component of Mombasa port development programme and is being implemented in three phases on a total area of 100 hectares and capacity to handle 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum on completion – bringing the overall port capacity to over 2.6 million TEUs by 2025. A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on competition between the regional ports warned that ports will cannibalise business due to their proximity to each other. However, Kenya Ports Authority has in a five-year self performance review of its 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, rubbished the...

The meeting focused on cementing the existing enhanced bilateral ties between Kenya and China for the benefit of the people of the two countries. President Kenyatta said the visit by the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the national legislature of the People’s Republic of China, affirmed the solid relations between the two countries. “We have shared values that make our relationship stronger by the day. We value China as a close development partner,” President Kenyatta said. The President pointed out that the close partnership between the two countries has seen the implementation of Key infrastructure projects including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and several key roads that have greatly improved the transport network, a key ingredient for growing industries and creating jobs. The President said construction work is ongoing to take the SGR to Naivasha onwards to Kisumu and into the East African hinterland, a move that will open up the region and boost trade between Kenya and her neighbours. President Kenyatta added that the cooperation in infrastructure development is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that involves infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin America. “The ultimate objective of our two countries is to see mutual benefit and prosperity for the people of Kenya and China,” President Kenyatta said. The Head of State said that Kenya is now looking at how to partner with China on the next level where the...

Kampuni ya Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL),kwa mara nyingine imeshiriki katika maonyesho ya wanafunzi wa vyuo vikuu yaliyoandaliwa na chama cha AISEC Tanzania na kufanyika katika Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam kampasi ya Mlimani. Kupitia maonyesho hayo wanafunzi huweza kujua jinsi taasisi mbalimbali nchini zinavyoendesha shughuli zake lengo kubwa ikiwa ni kuwajengea uwezo kwa kujifunza,kujitambua uwezo wao ni jinsi gani wanaweza kushiriki kutoa mchango wa kuendeleza taifa pindi wamalizapo masomo yao. Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa TBL, Philip Redman,aliongoza jopo la wafanyakazi waandamizi wa kampuni katika maonyesho hayo ambapo walipata fursa kuzungumza na wanafunzi kuhusiana na kukabiliana na changamoto mbalimbali ikiwemo ajira,kuendeleza vipaji vyao pia wanafunzi walipata fursa kuelewa jinsi kampuni ya TBL chini ya kampuni ya kimataifa ya ABInBEV inavyoendesha shuguli zake sambamba na kutekeleza Malengo Endelevu ya Maendeleo ya MileniaKampuni ya Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL),kwa mara nyingine imeshiriki katika maonyesho ya wanafunzi wa vyuo vikuu yaliyoandaliwa na chama cha AISEC Tanzania na kufanyika katika Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam kampasi ya Mlimani. Kupitia maonyesho hayo wanafunzi huweza kujua jinsi taasisi mbalimbali nchini zinavyoendesha shughuli zake lengo kubwa ikiwa ni kuwajengea uwezo kwa kujifunza,kujitambua uwezo wao ni jinsi gani wanaweza kushiriki kutoa mchango wa kuendeleza taifa pindi wamalizapo masomo yao. Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa TBL, Philip Redman,aliongoza jopo la wafanyakazi waandamizi wa kampuni katika maonyesho hayo ambapo walipata fursa kuzungumza na wanafunzi kuhusiana na kukabiliana na changamoto mbalimbali ikiwemo ajira,kuendeleza vipaji vyao pia wanafunzi walipata fursa kuelewa jinsi kampuni ya TBL chini ya kampuni ya kimataifa ya ABInBEV inavyoendesha shuguli zake...

A section of leaders from Busia County have urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to rescind his decision to allow Uganda to build a dry port in Naivasha, saying it will render Busia and Malaba ghost towns. Busia Woman Representative Florence Mutua Friday said that transferring crucial inland port services to Naivasha will hurt the economy of the border county. She said the move defeats the government’s efforts to create jobs for the youth, adding that the region lacks industrial parks that can help grow the economy and open up employment opportunities. MALABA “Busia desperately needs this dry port built in Malaba owing to the fact that the town has a geographical advantage over Naivasha. Malaba’s proximity to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan offers the country the best opportunity to turn Busia into a transit hub,” she said. Mrs Mutua said building the port in Naivasha will render clearing agents at the Busia and Malaba crossings jobless. The two border crossings were rehabilitated by Trade Mark East Africa at a cost of Sh1.2 billion. “Malaba is a big border point and we don't want to see trains and trucks just pass with goods. We have jobless youth and we all know what happens if the largest segment of the population remains unemployed,” she said. FREIGHT BUSINESS Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, MPs Godfrey Odanga (Matayos) and Oku Kaunya (Teso North) had earlier warned that the SGR freight trains, the Naivasha dry port and Embakasi inland container depot would affect the multi-billion shilling...

The World Bank’s latest brief shows that East African countries received $17.38 billion from their citizens living abroad between 2013 and 2018. According to the bank, Kenya topped the region as the biggest beneficiary of remittances, receiving $10.74 billion, followed by Uganda ($6.28 billion), South Sudan ($2.85 billion), Tanzania ($2.39 billion), Rwanda ($1.13 billion) and Burundi ($257 million). The foreign remittances outpaced foreign direct investment (FDI) to become the largest source of external financing in low and middle-income countries Its latest Migration and Development Brief shows that the volume of remittances into the five East African countries increased by more than 60 per cent to $4.66 billion in 2018, from $2.84 billion in 2013. An analysis of the World Bank data for 2018 by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre shows that most of the inflows into Tanzania were from the United States, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, South Africa, Malawi and Australia. On the other hand, foreigners living and working in Tanzania remitted some $629 million to their countries last year, with most of the outflows going to India, Kenya, China, Uganda, US, Germany, Burundi, Italy, Britain, Rwanda and Pakistan. According to the EAC trade report (2017) East Africa’s FDI inflows declined by 25.3 per cent to $6.6 billion in 2017 from $8.8 billion in 2016. Kenya recorded the highest decline in FDI inflows—a drop by 60.6 per cent to $717.7 million, down from $1.8 billion. It was followed by Uganda, whose FDI fell by 14.2 per cent to $1.3 billion from...

The Standard Gauge Railway freight services have revamped the Inland Container Depot at Embakasi  in Nairobi which was on its deathbed. Data from Kenya Ports Authority shows the depot was receiving only four trains per week. Since the SGR freight services began, the facility is now getting 49 trains in a week. KPA Managing Director Daniel Manduku said the depot was handling an average of 30,000 Total Equivalent Units annually, but last year it handled 257,972 TEUs. The Metre-Gauge Railway, also known as the Lunatic Express, used to transport less than 2 per cent of all cargo passing through the Port of Mombasa. However, which the coming of the SGR the figure has risen to 20 per cent of all cargo passing through Mombasa. KPA said it wants to increase cargo transport on the rail to 40 per cent. In a statement on KPA’s Annual Review and Bulletin of Statistics, Manduku said in 2018 one of the major developments was the cargo off take via the SGR from the Port of Mombasa. "Service provision grew from the initial pilot programme of one train at the beginning of 2018 to a  daily average of seven trains registering 190,726 TEUs of containers transferred to Nairobi depot by the close of the year," Manduku said. The increase of cargo to the depot, however, came with its challenges as the facility is able to handle slightly more than 3,000 TEUs in its yard. Therefore, KPA had to look for other alternative storage facilities in...

Sub-Saharan Africa is set to get its first bullet train courtesy of Tanzania and Rwanda. The 571km-long cross-border railway project dubbed the Isaka-Kigali SGR project linking landlocked Rwanda with Tanzania's port at Dar es Salaam will cost US$2.5billion to complete. In a joint announcement, Rwanda's Minister of Infrastructure Claver Gatete and Tanzania's transportation minister Isack Kamwelwe declared the cost was established by an initial study. The cost will be split between the two nations with Tanzania forking out US$1.3bn and Rwanda US$1.2bn. The first 400km from Dar to Dodoma is currently underway and being built by Turkish/Portuguese consortium. The cross-border railway project will enable landlocked Rwanda to access the Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. The line will also support the transfer of goods from Dar es Salaam port to Burundi and Congo. The Isaka-Kigali SGR project linking Isaka township in Tanzania with the Rwandan capital, Kigali was initially planned to be powered by diesel before it was switched to electric. Once complete, it is expected to provide improved railway connectivity and reduce freight transportation costs in the East Africa region. The two countries are considering various funding options for the project including from the African Development Bank (AfDB). Tanzania and Rwanda launched the project in January 2018 and the two countries have agreed to expedite the process to implement the Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project. Source: Business Insider

Kenya should embark on a strategic engagement with China in order to mutually benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), experts told Xinhua. Bitange Ndemo, senior lecturer of the School of Business at the University of Nairobi, said that unlike Ethiopia and South Africa, Kenya lacks a coherent strategy and thus is unable to fully take advantage of the initiative which features development and expansion of overland routes including railways and roads. Kenya is a party to the Belt and Road Initiative. A clear manifestation of this partnership is the establishment of the modern railway line along the Northern Corridor linking the very busy port city of Mombasa to capital city Nairobi. The railway is currently being extended to Naivasha, a major economic zone in production of flowers in the country. Ndemo, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology told Xinhua on Friday evening that a strategic engagement will foster progressive growth in both countries with citizens greatly benefiting in terms of accessing markets for locally manufactured products. Judson Nyabuto, investment expert with Surge Infrastructure Development Company said that a strategic engagement between the two nations would unlock financing options for infrastructural developments in the East African nation. The mutual framework would result in manufacturing or improving locally available materials and products for use in development and expansion of overland routes, said Nyabuto, adding that priority should be on catalyzing local economy by adopting various favorable methodologies. "The key focus should be on supporting...