As long as the cost of Internet facilities and services remains high, Uganda says it will not be able to favourably compete in electronic commerce with the developed world. Until the least developed countries (LDCs), including Uganda are in position to fairly compete in the digital space, government will remain opposed to regulation that disadvantages the participation of poor nations in electronic trade. Electronic commerce or e-commerce is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. According to Trade minister Amelia Kyambadde, “…the need for multilateral rules on e-commerce is still too premature to be thought about.” Speaking last week at the panel discussion whose theme was promoting connectivity for LDCs, Ms Kyambadde said, LDCs have basic infrastructural challenges to deal with in building their e-commerce readiness. She said: “There is no level playing field. Reducing the digital divide would require a closer look at the cost of services such as data, infrastructure, and regulatory and institutional frameworks.” In her presentation as one of the panelists in a discussion held as part of the activities for the Sixth Global Review of Aid for Trade at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, Ms Kyambadde argued that there is need to address issues of access, availability and affordability of ICT services and related products before rules are thought of. In Africa, about 25 per cent uses Internet as opposed to nearly 80 per cent in Europe; 65 per cent in Americas...

Twenty-six African countries are rapidly moving towards finalising a preferential trade agreement which will open up significant opportunities for South African exports. The countries being integrated into a tripartite free trade area (TFTA) — seen as a critical driver of regional integration on the continent — have a combined population of 625-million people and a total GDP of $1.6-trillion. Once the tariff negotiations are finalised, the TFTA will offer exporters preferential or zero tariffs into the markets of member countries. Department of Trade and Industry deputy director-general of international trade and economic development Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter notes that this preferential access will provide better terms of trade than are currently enjoyed. "It means that we will be able to increase our exports and advance a developmental integration agenda and the development of regional value chains, as it would be cheaper, for example, for SA to import inputs from African countries." Currently, intra-regional trade on the continent is very low. Trade Law Chambers director Rian Geldenhuys said the progress made with the TFTA was "fantastic" and would offer huge opportunities for South African businesses if implemented, particularly as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was largely dysfunctional in terms of the implementation tariff agreements. At this stage, the TFTA agreement consists only of the legal framework with detailed negotiations on tariffs for the different products still to be finalised. Non-tariff barriers and infrastructural blockages will be addressed at a later stage. The TFTA agreement which SA signed in Uganda last week is...

One of the issues raised by National Super Alliance (NASA) flag bearer Raila Odinga is whether the setting-up of the Naivasha dry port will kill the Mombasa Port and the county’s economy. Raila, while speaking at a campaign rally in Kwale County, was emphatic that the proposed Naivasha dry port will result in the death of the port of Mombasa since, through the Standard Gauge Railway, all the containers will be transported to Naivasha using the railway. His sentiments were echoed by Mombasa Governor  Hassan Joho who has repeatedly stated that many people will be left jobless in Mombasa as major services like clearing and forwarding will be done in Naivasha at the expense of the coastal people. The question that arises is: What is a dry port? A dry port, which is sometimes called inland port, is an inland inter-modal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport and operating as a centre for the transhipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. In short, a dry inland port speeds up the flow of cargo between ships and major land transportation networks, creating a more central distribution point. Further, inland ports improve the movement of imports and exports, moving the time-consuming sorting and processing of containers inland, away from congested seaports. The Mombasa Port activities are not being transferred to Naivasha since the region does not border the Indian Ocean. Just like the Embakasi dry port, the Naivasha facility will provide storage of cargo especially those destined for...

The World Trade Organization issued the text of the following remarks by Director-General Roberto Azevedo: "Good morning everybody. "Welcome to the WTO and to the 2017 Global Review of Aid for Trade. "It's great to have a full house for this very important event. I am sure we will have some dynamic and fruitful discussions over the coming days. "To start things off, we have a fantastic line-up this morning. "I am pleased to be joined today by: * "the Vice President of the Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajang, * "OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria, * "UNCTAD Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi, * "the CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, Hani Salem Sonbol, * "Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Arancha Gonzalez, * "and Senior Director at the World Bank, Anabel Gonzalez. "This is one of the biggest Global Reviews so far. "We have more than 1,500 delegates taking part from around the world. "More than 20 ministers. "And leaders from a range of international organizations. "Thank you all for joining us and for making the journey to Geneva. It is a great pleasure to host you this week. "Excellencies, "Ladies and gentlemen, "17 years ago, world leaders came together to pledge to halve extreme poverty by 2015. "They met that goal - and they did it way ahead of schedule. It remains one of the most astonishing achievements of our lifetime. And trade helped to drive much of the growth and development that led to that success. "Then, two years ago, just after the last Global Review, world leaders came together again. This time they pledged to...

TradeMark Africa and the International Organization for Migration have entered into a partnership agreement that will facilitate faster clearance of migrants at border posts. The two organizations will soon implement a border project in the Great Lakes region with roll out to other areas expected in future. The partnership will provide integrated solutions for the safe and orderly movement of people and goods across international borders. Under the partnership the organizations, in conjunction with government agencies, will provide integrated border management processes that will cover customs and standards, and also human mobility. As a trade facilitation organisation, TradeMark Africa (TMA) has enabled interventions across the 6 East African countries that contribute to boosting trade in goods and services. It has facilitated construction of 13 One Stop Border Posts and adoption of one stop controls that bring border officials from neighbouring countries under one roof, enabling those crossing the border to stop only once in the country of destination. IOM works to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need. Source: Africa Business Communities

African ports have adopted several recommendations aimed at boosting cruise tourism in the continent, among them modernising terminals. The ports will also pursue an integrated approach towards marketing and promotion of cruise tourism so as to boost regional economies. Speaking during Cruise Tourism Workshop in Seychelles, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director Catherine Mturi, who is also the Chairperson of the Cruise Indian Ocean Association, said cruise tourism remain largely unexploited and member states could gain a lot from the sector. Mturi observed that KPA was leading the pack in modernising its terminal so as to increase the number of cruise vessels calling at the port of Mombasa. Other recommendations reached during the meeting include investing more resources on developing cruise terminals. Cruise ships calling at the Mombasa Port currently use the cargo terminal. The new facility will be the first terminal customised for the luxury vessels. The Sh350 million terminal is being constructed under joint funding by the government and Trade Mark East Africa and is expected to be complete by September this year. Mturi said the region’s potential was enormous characterised by a great diversity of natural wonders on land and sea, coupled with competitive ports and tourism bodies to support cruise tourism. “It will be appreciated that Cruise shipping is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry. The industry shows no signs of slowing down, with 24 million passengers having sailed in 2016, a dramatic increase from 15 million 10 years earlier,” she said....

Trade minister Amelia Kyambadde has asked Ugandans to stop exporting to Rwanda goods that are not allowed there as this may spoil trade relations between the two countries. Rwandans have been accusing Ugandans of selling waragi, a local gin, to the county yet it is a banned product. Speaking at Mirama-Kagitumba One Stop Border Post (OSBP) during the signing of a cross border trade charter recently, Ms Kyambadde also asked residents to stop using illegal points. She told them to instead go through the established immigration centres and border posts. The charter details goods allowed to be traded between the two countries. “You now have an opportunity to trade across borders. Use this (OSBP) facility properly. Avoid exporting products that are not allowed across borders. You must avoid these illegal dealings to keep good relations with trading partners,” she said. Ms Kyambadde was reacting to comments by the Trade Mark East Africa country director Moses Sabiti, and the Eastern Africa Sub-region Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women Programmes director Christine Nankubuge Ndawula, who said most people fear to use the OSBP facility because of its sophistication. Ms Kyambadde said to facilitate trade across borders, the Trade ministry will build 18 border markets including one at Mirama Hills and strengthen Small and Medium Enterprises. She added that the OSBP will ease trade across the border by reducing time spent on clearing goods and decongest Katuna Border Post. Mirama Hills village chairperson Rajab Muhire said the OSBP needs to be well...

Cartel fears are rising and shippers are getting concerned by the dramatic drop in choice of carriers, in the wake of unprecedented liner shipping consolidation. Just weeks after HAPAG-LLOYD’s merger with UASC created the fifth-largest liner shipping company, COSCO and port operator Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) could make the 3rd largest, by jointly offering $6.3bn to acquire the Hong Kong shipping line OOCL – Orient Overseas International Ltd. The Offer is dependent upon the satisfaction of pre-conditions, which include the necessary regulatory approvals as well as approval from COSCO Shipping Holdings shareholders. The controlling shareholder, who currently holds 68.7% of OOCL, has irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer. If successful this latest acquisition is one of the largest in a series of major container shipping events including CMA CGM’s $2.4bn acquisition of NOL in 2016; the merger in 2016 of COSCO and China Shipping; the 2016 bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping; Maersk’s $4bn acquisition of Hamburg Süd; the announced ONE merger of Japanese lines and the merger in June of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC which is outlined at the bottom. COSCO pledged to keep the OOCL brand and its Hong Kong headquarters, and provided assurances that jobs are safe for at least 24 months. The combined COSCO/OOCL will operate more than 400 vessels over a much expanded network, with capacity exceeding 2.9 million TEUs including order-book. Analysts fear that with the COSCO deal the market share of the top four carriers would rise to 53.8% and there is a real danger of the market becoming an...

The economic benefits of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project are set to soar with the ongoing extension of the project from Nairobi to Naivasha, and eventually to Kisumu and Malaba. A railway corridor of the type that the SGR project will create works as a system and its full potential can only be realized when the component parts have been fully laid out, constructed and commissioned. Tellingly, it must be understood that while the Mombasa-Nairobi is already up and running, with a scheduled passenger service being the first offering, the end-game of what is easily East Africa’s most ambitious infrastructural project ever, is eventually, a link to Kampala, Uganda and onward to Kigali, Rwanda under the East African Railway Master Plan. Zeroing in on the Kenyan component of the project, the Nairobi-Naivasha phase, especially, holds great socio-economic promise, considering some of the SGR - dependant infrastructure that is being planned for this segment. This phase marks the first component of the Nairobi-Malaba-Kampala SGR and is being constructed by China Communication and Construction Company (CCCC) as the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor. Due to the topographical challenges of putting together an SGR railway track in the expansive Rift Valley and the financial implications of this, the 505-kilometer stretch has been divided and is being implemented in three sub-phases: Phase 2A (Nairobi - Naivasha), Phase 2B (Naivasha to Kisumu) and Phase 2C (Kisumu to Malaba). Phases 2A and 2B and the Malaba-Kampala section, are currently the at financing identification stages....

Kenya has announced plans to buy new equipment for testing cooking gas entering the local market by road at border points in a move that could end the raging trade dispute with Tanzania The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Tuesday said it was procuring two test machines — gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GCMS) — for the inspections. This came after Ministry of Energy officials in May banned gas imports from Tanzania through land border due to failure to meet safety standards that exposed Kenyan consumers to the risk of cylinder explosions. “Purchase of an additional two GCSM machines is necessary in order to ensure that all LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) entering the country through the road border points is sampled and tested,” ERC acting director-general Pavel Oimeke told the Business Daily. The ERC puts the cost of one machine at between $100,000 (Sh10.3 million) and $400,000 (Sh41.2 million). The government currently has only one functional similar machine at the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited, which is used to test and certify all cooking gas imports through the Mombasa port. Kenya has for the last two months blocked more than 4,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas from entering the local market, including through the border town of Namanga. The ban has effectively made Mombasa the only entry route for LPG. The investigation into Tanzania gas imports revealed that some cylinders lacked the chemical additive ethyl mercaptan (rotten egg odour) that enables gas detection and appropriate response by users. The inquiry also revealed that Tanzania importers...