East African Community Secretariat; Nairobi, Kenya; 12 April 2017: The Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko paid a courtesy call on the Trademark East Africa (TMA) CEO, Mr. Frank Matsaert on Tuesday, 11th April, 2017, at the Trade Mark East Africa Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The two officials had a lengthy discussion on a number of issues including the support to the East African Community by TMA and the importance of Partnership between the two parties. The Secretary General briefed Mr. Frank Matsaert on the reforms being undertaken at the EAC and that EAC was now ISO certified. He disclosed to the TMA CEO that the impact of reforms had led to cost reduction in the way EAC does business and emphasized that the reform agenda will continue to ensure efficiency in the use of available resources. On management of different projects at the EAC Secretariat, Amb. Mfumukeko informed Mr. Matsaert that the Projects Coordination Unit will be fully functional by July 2017. On his part, Mr. Frank Matsaert emphasized that TMA takes EAC partnership seriously, and congratulated the EAC for passing the EU Fiduciary Risk Assessment, which TMA supported. Mr. Matsaert informed the Secretary General that a commitment had been made to support the initial phase of operationalization of the Projects Coordination Unit at the EAC Secretariat. 'Already a consultant had been recruited by TMA to help in the finalization of the design of the unit'. The report will be finalized by end of...

Six maize ware houses under the Grain council of Uganda (TGCU) have signed a code of conduct which will govern their conduct in the way grain hubs handle grains right from the farm level until they get to the market. The self-regulatory code of conduct prescribes activities that ware house operators need to undertake while handling maize during storage, and also guides ware houses management practices that ensure that that their practices are in accordance with EAC quality standards. Some of the activities include quality checks at village level before the grain gets to the warehouse, checking the moisture content so that only grains with acceptable moisture content is stored, hygiene of the grain, level of chemical residues, broken kennels, stacking, packaging among others. This is according to the executive director of the TGCU, Henry Musisi, while witnessing the signing of the codes of conduct by grain hub processors at the Golf course hotel in Kampala on Wednesday. “Ugandan grain still has challenges despite the fact that Uganda is the only country in East Africa which perennially produces surplus grain to sell but this has been branded as the poorest in the region as such can only be fed on chickens,” he said. The six ware houses that signed include Joseph Initiatives in Masindi, Aponye Uganda Limited, Kamwenge Community Devt Limited,Nu AFGRI Uganda Limited (Nwoya) AFGRI KAI Uganda Limited Kiryandongo and Namunkekere Agro Processing Industries Limited in Nakaseke. Musisi added that Uganda maize grain now attracts lower prices compared to...

TradeMark Africa has proposed the need to adapt its engagement in Burundi by investing in projects that strengthen new export potential value chains, enhance cross border trade and increase the country’s participation in the regional market. The institution has identified a specific location in the country through geo-spatial methods where interventions will be implemented with the overall vision of improving the country’s trade balance in a phased manner, create jobs for traders and distributors and reduce poverty. TMA has identified the ‘Greater Imbo Region’ as the location to implement its new programming. This is the zone stretching from Cibitoke in the North of Burundi bordering Rwanda, to Makamba in the South neighbouring Tanzania. TradeMark Africa (TMA) banks its investment on the potential of the Imbo Region which contributes 30 percent of Burundi’s staple crop production, 70 percent of fish stock and distribution, 30 percent of livestock and 45 percent of national milk production. Aime Nzoyihera, Acting Country Director for Burundi underlined that “The Growth Hub programme seeks to diversify exports through cross-border with DRC and the EAC neighbouring countries, create employment and increase income for the people in the selected sub-sectors.” The region is also rich in tropical fruit plantations such as pineapple, passion fruit, mandarin, mangoes, and tomatoes. The area also grows palm trees which is used to produce oil for cooking and soap manufacturing. The rich natural resources supports and holds potential to increase economic activity in the region where people can tap into fishing, producing commercial items...

Iringa small scale farmers have asked the government and the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat to eliminate both the traditional and new challenges related to non-tariff barriers (NTBs), impact of climate change and low participation of farmers in the EAC agritrade policy making process. At a recent event held to review the region's agri-trade and business regime, the stakeholders found that majority of small farmers weren't aware of the requirements for undertaking agri-trade and business within the EAC and other regional economic blocs. The deliberations which were based on experiences of Iringa small-scale farmers pointed out challenges associated with systems which include lack of capacity on the part of small scale farmers to negotiate favorable terms. As a result, the Iringa Civil Society Organization (ICISO) supported by the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) under the EAC CSO integration project in collaboration with Trademark East Africa (TMA) is working to establish how the small-scale farmers could effectively engage in, and benefit from, the region's agri-trade and business regime. A statement issued by the ICISO Executive Secretary, Mr. Raphael Mtitu noted that Iringa SSFs were failing to effectively engage and benefit from the EAC regional development cooperation and integration due to lack of information and facilitation on how to undertake trade and access markets within the bloc. Source: All Africa

Construction of a modern cross-border market facilities worth $2.2 million commenced in Rusizi at the Rwanda-DR Congo border, with a ground breaking ceremony yesterday. Francois Kanimba, the Minister for Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs, presided over the event. The market is expected to benefit thousands of Rwandans who engage in cross-border trade with DR Congo informally, and who already make a significant contribution to Rwanda’s economy with an estimated trade value of $85 million in 2015. More than one third of the total informal cross-border trade in Rwanda goes through Rusizi. Trade through Rusizi grew by 48 per cent between 2013 and 2014. This investment is expected to bring further economic gains for both traders and the Government of Rwanda. Addressing the crowd at the border, Minister Kanimba noted that cross-border trade with DR Congo amounts to $100 million annually with approximately $30 million going through Rusizi. “Cross-border trade plays an important role in poverty reduction as it provides trading opportunities for many of poorest people of our society. MINEACOM (the trade ministry) remains focused in utilising every opportunity to keep supporting informal cross- border traders, in particular women, through creating conducive working, environment such as cross-border markets and continue to build their capacity to trade,” he said. The double storey market complex will comprise of stalls and lock-ups which are divided according to the different merchandise, in addition to storage facilities, washrooms, coldrooms, and a crèche, according to a statement. Access roads, paved pedestrian areas, parking yards...

Uganda has announced plans to start building a $2.3bn standard-gauge railway between its capital and the Kenyan border later this year, dropping an earlier demand that Kenya first complete its line between the border and the port of Mombasa. The 273km electrified track, which will link Kampala and the Kenyan border town of Malaba, will be built by China Harbour Engineering (CHEC) and is due to be completed in the middle of 2020. Kasingye Kyamugambi, the project’s coordinator, told Uganda’s New Vision website that land acquisition was 60% complete and efforts were being made to buy the remaining plots by end of February. As with Kenya’s standard gauge railway, the work is being funded by China’s Export–Import Bank. The size of the loan, and the terms on which it is being offered, have not been made public. However, it was reported in 2014 that $8bn would be sought. Uganda is seen as a good credit risk owing to the recent discovery of an oil field in the Lake Albert basin. It is estimated that this contains 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable reserves. According to Bloomberg, this will net the Ugandan government around $43bn over the next 25 years. It is predicted that the railway will have a dramatic impact on moving people and goods through the country. President Yoweri Museveni said the railway would halve the cost of getting a 32-tonne container to Mombasa, from $3,500 by road, to $1,650 by rail, and would cut the journey time from 21...

Tanzania’s first standard gauge railway (SGR) has moved closer to reality following the laying of the foundation stone for implementation of the first phase by President John Magufuli recently. President Magufuli told the gathering witnessing the stone laying ceremony at Pugu in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, that SGR would speed up the country’s industrialisation drive and went on to urge the consortium of Turkish and Portuguese contractors undertaking the project to look into the possibility of completing the project ahead of the 30-month schedule. ”I understand the project is scheduled to take 30 months to complete, but I challenge the contractors to deliver a well-executed project ahead of the deadline,” the President said, adding that the Government had already effected a down payment of 300 bn/-. The project, to be implemented in five phases, will link Dar es Salaam and Mwanza and eventually Rwanda and Burundi. The portion whose construction was launched is about 300 kilometres long, from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. Reli Assets Holding Company Ltd (Rahco) had announced earlier that the project would be undertaken by Yapi Merkez Insaat Ve Sanayi (Turkey) and Mota-Engil, Engenharie and Construcao Africa, SA (Portugal) at a total cost of 1,215,282,000 US dollars. Rahco Acting Managing Director, Masanja Kadogosa, said his firm would closely oversee the project and ensure its timely completion. He hailed the government for its efforts to make the project happen, noting that it would go a long way towards opening up business opportunities in the hinterland....

The taxman recorded a revenue growth of 300 per cent at the Busia-Uganda border over the past three years and is looking to net more with establishment of the one stop border post. KRA Western Kenya coordinator Kevin Safari said the post, opened in June 2016, had cut transit costs and delays, fueling traders' confidence in the East Africa's busiest corridor. The one stop border post (OSBP), he said had cut down clearance procedures from 16 to about "three or four" clearing congestion that previously saw a fleet of trucks line up, some for a week, as they waited for clearance. "An average of 250 trucks pass through this border every day and the OSBP has reduced clearance time from two or three days to between 20 to 30 minutes. This means that transit time is greatly reduced and more traders can use the corridor efficiently," he said. A trader exporting goods to Uganda for example only needs to present the exit note and the cargo manifest to the customs desk for verification on the Ugandan side of the border. The desk has officers from Kenya and Uganda sitting side by side. The Kenyan official clears the goods for export and hands over to the Ugandan counterpart to clear them for import, a process that takes about 15 minutes. Previously, traders in the region were slowed by tedious clearance procedures at the two customs points, which required inspection at both sides of the border. This process created delays and congestion...

The report proposes facilitating investments in the greater Imbo region Bujumbura, 20th April 2017: TradeMark Africa proposes to adapt its engagement in Burundi by investing in projects that strengthen new export potential value chains, enhance cross border trade and increase the country’s participation in the regional market.  The institution has identified a specific location in the country through geo-spatial methods where interventions will be implemented with the overall vision of improving the country’s trade balance in a phased manner, create jobs for traders and distributors and reduce poverty. TMA has identified the ‘Greater Imbo Region’ as the location to implement its new programming. This is the zone stretching from Cibitoke in the North of Burundi bordering Rwanda, to Makamba in the South neighbouring Tanzania. TMA banks its investment on the potential of the Imbo Region which contributes 30 percent of Burundi’s staple crop production, 70 percent of fish stock and distribution, 30 percent of livestock and 45 percent of national milk production. Aime Nzoyihera, Acting Country Director for Burundi underlined that “The Growth Hub programme seeks to diversify exports through cross-border with DRC and the EAC neighbouring countries, create employment and increase income for the people in the selected sub-sectors.” The region is also rich in tropical fruit plantations such as pineapple, passion fruit, mandarin, mangoes, and tomatoes. The area also grows palm trees which is used to produce oil for cooking and soap manufacturing. The rich natural resources supports and holds potential to increase economic activity in the region...

The volume of Kenyan apparel shipped to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) declined by 12.1 per cent last year even as uncertainty clouds the 17-year-old preferential pact under President Donald Trump. The 2017 Economic Survey shows apparel volumes exported declined to 74.4 million pieces in 2016 even as earnings increased to Ksh35.2 billion ($352 million) on the back of a weak shilling. Under Agoa — a trade pact allowing US buyers to import goods from a number of sub-Saharan African countries without paying duty or facing quota restriction — the US has become Kenya’s largest apparel export destination. Former US President Barack Obama extended Agoa to September 2025 allowing local entrepreneurs more time to benefit from the preferential trade pact. There have, however, been fears that President Trump could either use executive orders to cut short that period or refuse to renew it upon expiry. Textiles and apparel account for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s total exports to the US under the pact. The Economic Survey shows direct employment generated by Agoa increased by 2.5 per cent to 42,645 people in 2016 while the number of enterprises operating at the export processing zones (EPZs) increased to 91 from the 89 recorded in 2015. Total sales by the enterprises in the 65 gazetted EPZs increased by 5.8 per cent to Ksh68.7 billion ($687 million) in 2016 from the Ksh64.8 billion ($648 million) recorded in the year before. The report says exports from the EPZs increased...