On 20 November, EABC President, Mr. Stefan Molnar attended an Executive Briefing on the EU Strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia by The Delegation of the European Union to Thailand. H.E. Mr Pirkka Tapiola, Ambassador of the European Union to Thailand, gave opening remarks. Attended by more than 50 diplomats from both regions as well as representatives from business and public sectors. The event enhanced Euro-Asian connectivity will further promote economic growth and significantly open up a great window of opportunities for investment for both European and Thai businesses. Source: Danish-Thai Chamber of Commernce

Barriers to domestic and cross-border e-commerce in Africa and how to lower them were thrashed out by business and government leaders on 11 December at UNCTAD’s Africa eCommerce Week in Nairobi, Africa. International Telecommunication Union Deputy Secretary General Malcolm Johnson said that any benefits that might flow from e-commerce required connectivity. “More than 50% of the world is now connected to the internet,” he said. In Africa, however less than a quarter of people were, and rural areas in sub-Saharan were even more poorly served. “One of the biggest problems is a lack of an incentive for people to get connected,” he said. Digital skills needed building so that people – especially women – could appreciate the returns available by getting online. “People have to be persuaded as to why it’s to their advantage to spend the money to get connected.” Jessica Anuna, a graduate of UNCTAD’s e-Founder Fellowship Initiative and who runs Klasha, an online fashion retailer for African millennials, said that the barriers to e-commerce were almost prohibitively high. “It’s cheaper for me to ship from Asia than from within Africa,” she said. However, Dylan Piatti, industry chief of staff at Deloitte Africa and chairman of the Ecommerce Forum Africa, said that “commonalities” were emerging in terms of what was needed for businesses entering the digital space. Cross-border data restrictions were an example, he said, calling for a pan-African solution. “When is the best time to plant a tree?” he asked. “The answer is yesterday, today and tomorrow.” The power of the marketplace Chris Folayan,...

The Mombasa Port is one of the biggest ports in Africa, especially in East and Central Africa. It is also known as the City of Merchants. Its strategic location between South Africa and the Gulf of Aden as well as its services to neighbouring countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo makes it one of the busiest in the region. The Mombasa Port got several awards including the best cruise port in Africa by the World Travel Awards. The Mombasa Port is working its way to handle two million containers by 2022 and already carrying out several projects to boost efficiency at the ports. In 2016, the port handled 6,487,330, an increase of 8.5 percent. But like the Lagos port, it requires facelift and solution to endless traffic which is quite challenging. The new terminal being constructed is expected to handle 1.5 million TEUs per annum. Currently, about 1.1 containers are being handled by the port. Source: Face 2 Face

Burundi says it has not been treated fairly at the EAC, and some of its issues with Rwanda are yet to be addressed. Is your office doing anything to address these? As a Secretariat, we do not focus on bilateral matters. However, we trust that relations between the two countries will soon normalise. They are both part of the EAC family and Article 6 of the EAC Treaty has set peace co-existence and good neighbourliness as fundamental principles of the Community. We have witnessed many trade disputes between EAC partner states, non-tariff barriers and other restrictions, including denial of work permits. What is the Secretariat doing to address these issues that undermine the Common Market? The EAC has set up mechanisms to track non-tariff barriers and other hindrances to the movement of goods and persons. Many NTBs have been removed and the Partner States have committed to remove the remaining ones as the heads of state continue to caution against measures hindering intra-regional trade. Progress is being made to facilitate movement of persons and allow EAC citizens to settle and work in any country of their choice. Overall, visa fees are being reduced and we are pleading for their complete removal. The partner states agree on the idea of making EAC a single visa territory for non-nationals of the Partner States. This will take some time to materialise, but efforts are being made to improve the current situation. The common external tariff is being revised and issues of Rules of...

The East African Legislative Assembly is seeking autonomy from the Secretariat in an effort to deal with delays in procurement and to control its budget. Last month, a committee was set up by the EAC Council of Ministers to look at the dynamics in the Secretariat and EALA that would ease their work. It is expected to hand its report to the Council by February 2019. Julius Maganda, Uganda minister of state for East African affairs and the chair of the council of ministers, told The EastAfrican in Bujumbura that autonomy would ensure that neither of the institutions undermined the other. The committee is composed of three technical experts: One from the office of the EALA clerk, one from the Secretary General’s office and an independent expert from outside the Secretariat. This came after a request from EALA to create autonomy citing a lot of delays mainly in procurement which are said to be hindering the regional assembly’s business. Related Content State apathy blamed for EAC woes EALA fraud report fails to finger corrupt EAC cuts budget by $10m Does collapse of EAC Summit herald cracks in bloc? — VIDEO The Commonwealth Parliament along which the EALA is modelled, is autonomous. “This would give EALA the necessary leverage to execute its oversight role, which, in the current circumstances, is difficult,” said George Odongo, an EALA member from Uganda. Integrity According to Mr Odongo it is a practice in member states to protect the integrity of the parliament and the executive, and yet...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) marks the 24th anniversary since its transformation from the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA). A high-level COMESA delegation led by Secretary General Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe will mark the anniversary in Egypt while attending the Africa 2018 Forum organized by the COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA) in partnership with the government of Egypt. The two-day event, kicked off on Saturday and brings together more than 3,000 delegates including heads of State to advance intra Africa investments. The COMESA delegation is using the Africa 2018 Forum in Sharm el Sheikh and the forthcoming Intra -Africa Trade Fair in Cairo, 11 – 17 December 2018 to showcase its contribution to economic growth and development of its Member States while directly engaging with stakeholders in side meetings and expos. Among the notable developments of COMESA in the last 24 years is the expansion of the regional economic bloc from 19 to 21 Member States following the admission of Tunisia and Somalia in July 2018. The bloc is now the largest in the continent with a combined gross domestic product of $769 billion and a population of 560 million people. Also Read  Hudson Andambi named acting KPC Managing Director It is also the REC that integrates most of the countries of the Great Lakes region, covering Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, with significant need for enhanced cross-border economic activities. On this anniversary, Secretary General cites the digitization of trade facilitation instruments as the...

Trade Mark has committed to invest $53M in Rwanda over the course of the next five years to support development in trade. The amount over the course of the next half decade 2018-2023 will be spent at the tune of about $10M every year.According to the new TradeMark Africa Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, by their projections, the expenditure will create about 100,000 jobs for Rwandans. Mwencha toldThe New Times that during the second phase, they will build on impact and progress made over the recent years. “We will focus on making borders more efficient for regional trade, opening ip trade corridors as well as value addition of commodities,” he said. He said that during the previous phase of support to Rwanda, they had established that their return on expenditure is about 28 per cent. This means that for every dollar spent, it creates a value of 28 dollars. The previous phase by the firm saw an increase in terms of Rwandan firms and producers connected to external markets. In the previous phase TradeMark invested about $65m in Rwanda with among the most significant impacts being in the reduction in cost of transporting containers from Mombasa to Kigali. The cost has dropped by more than $1,500 from $6500 in 2011 to about $4800 in 2016 which has saved the country about $7 million. Other impacts of the previous phase include Kagitumba one stop border post, a single electronic window to reduce clearing, electronic cargo tracking system and construction of cross border markets....

Be it border hassles, lack of road or air routes linking key cities, or the frustrations of being refused entry to a country because of visas, the end result is to curtail the free movement of people, viewed by the African Development Bank as one of the pillars of regional integration. That freedom of movement is inextricably tied to the Bank’s vision to create the next global market in Africa. As the Africa Economic Conference opens in the Rwandan capital Kigali, the theme this year: Regional and Continental Integration for Africa’s development,” also aligns with another major Bank priority - placing infrastructure development at the centre of Africa’s regional integration efforts. Host nation Rwanda has taken bold leadership steps to champion regional integration, announcing at the beginning of this year an entry visa on arrival for travelers from all African countries. The third edition of the Bank’s Visa Openess Index, to be launched on day two of the meeting, will be an important opportunity to measure which countries are making improvements that support free movement of people across Africa. “The Index has helped raise awareness and drive visa policy reforms across the continent to ease movement of people, unlocking opportunities for intra-African tourism, trade and investment. In so doing, the Bank is directly contributing to the objectives of the AU initiative for a Single African passport,” Gabriel Negatu, Bank Director General, East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office said in his remarks during the opening plenary. Speaking on behalf...

A truly successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement cannot be achieved without the “people dimension,” which ensures that the integration process will be inclusive and not lead to inequalities. In an interactive plenary session with experts and policy makers on the final day of the African Economic Conference, delegates discussed the risks of integration, including fragility, a rising youth population, unemployment and hunger, as well as examples of good practice and recommendations to avoid or mitigate the risks. 44 African nations signed the landmark African Continental Free Trade agreement (AfCFTA) earlier this year, which aims to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business people and capital, paving the way for the creation of the African customs union. The agreement also has its challenges and some of these were the focus of the plenary session entitled: “Driving Equity, Inclusion and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation through Regional Integration.” Hunger, gender imbalance and a growing population with young people moving away from rural areas, threatening the future of agriculture and primary production, were considered in turn by Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Rwanda’s Deputy Governor of the Rwanda National Bank. “A third of the population of the East African region are affected by hunger,” she said, “while the gender pay gap means that 75% of women are working for no wages. Women are in danger of being left behind,” she added. Other panelists emphasised fragility, the importance of governance, strong institutions and ensuring that...

Trade Mark has committed to invest $53M in Rwanda over the course of the next five years to support development in trade. The amount over the course of the next half decade 2018-2023 will be spent at the tune of about $10M every year. According to the new TradeMark Africa Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, by their projections, the expenditure will create about 100,000 jobs for Rwandans. Mwencha toldThe New Times that during the second phase, they will build on impact and progress made over the recent years. “We will focus on making borders more efficient for regional trade, opening ip trade corridors as well as value addition of commodities,” he said. He said that during the previous phase of support to Rwanda, they had established that their return on expenditure is about 28 per cent. This means that for every dollar spent, it creates a value of 28 dollars. The previous phase by the firm saw an increase in terms of Rwandan firms and producers connected to external markets. In the previous phase TradeMark invested about $65m in Rwanda with among the most significant impacts being in the reduction in cost of transporting containers from Mombasa to Kigali. The cost has dropped by more than $1,500 from $6500 in 2011 to about $4800 in 2016 which has saved the country about $7 million. Other impacts of the previous phase include Kagitumba one stop border post, a single electronic window to reduce clearing, electronic cargo tracking system and construction of cross border markets. The...