Uganda and South Sudan have agreed on a blueprint for redrawing their common border. The deal is expected to end the long-simmering border conflicts. A joint technical committee from the two countries on Friday concluded a three-day meeting for the “delimitation and demarcation” of the border in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, a process facilitated and to be overseen by the African Union, the 55-member continental body. The meeting, according to Ms Margaret Kafeero, the head of public diplomacy in Uganda's ministry of Foreign Affairs, “discussed the technical, logistical and security requirements that will need to be availed before” the exercise to delineate the 470km boundary stretch commences. HomeNews NEWS Uganda and S. Sudan agree on border demarcation plan SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTRATING By FREDERIC MUSISI in Kampala Posted  Sunday, April 23   2017 at  18:53 Uganda and South Sudan have agreed on a blueprint for redrawing their common border. The deal is expected to end the long-simmering border conflicts. A joint technical committee from the two countries on Friday concluded a three-day meeting for the “delimitation and demarcation” of the border in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, a process facilitated and to be overseen by the African Union, the 55-member continental body. The meeting, according to Ms Margaret Kafeero, the head of public diplomacy in Uganda's ministry of Foreign Affairs, “discussed the technical, logistical and security requirements that will need to be availed before” the exercise to delineate the 470km boundary stretch commences. Technical expertise “The African Union Border Programme experts provided technical expertise...

Kenya and Jordan have agreed to set up a joint business lobby in a bid to boost bilateral ties. The business council will have an immediate task of generating and exchanging economic information. It is also expected to conduct feasibility studies on trade and arrange for joint business forums. The initiative was agreed on during the closing ceremony of the Jordanian-Kenyan trade committee’s first session, headed by Jordanian Trade Minister Yarub Qudah and his Kenyan counterpart Adan Mohamed. Only recently, Jordan opened an embassy in Kenya. A committee formed to follow up on King Abdullah’s visit to Kenya last year has called for deliberate efforts to increase bilateral trade, “which is still insufficient despite numerous opportunities available”. The committee also stressed the importance of enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields and building on the outcomes of King Abdullah’s visit to Kenya last year. The committee’s discussions covered cooperation in trade, investment and industry, in addition to issues related to small and medium sized enterprises. Source: Business Daily

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) says it has tripled custom revenue collections in its seven border points after it began operating one-stop border posts in June 2016. The move, which put together bureaucrats involved in cross-border clearance processes under one roof, has also cut cargo clearance time from the previous three days to just under 1 hour, the agency said. KRA Western Regional Coordinator Kevin Safari said the simplified procedures have attracted traders into the cross order business as well as reduced smuggling hence the increased revenues. “With a faster and a simpler process, traders have had no incentive to use illegal channels to bring in goods into the country as they are assured of a faster and a more transparent process,” Mr Safari said during a tour at the Busia border point. “We have also reduced the time they would take to cross the border meaning they can trade more volumes which is also a revenue boost for us.” The Busia OSPB which is major entry and exit point between Kenya and Uganda has a one-stop clearance point for cargo and people, with various government agencies sitting in one office to fasten the clearance procedures. Kenya has 35 gazetted entry and exit points with four more being proposed in the Western border with Uganda. Source: Business Daily

A United Nations think-tank has warned the East African Community against entering into an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union arguing that it will neither spur economic growth nor bring wealth to the region's citizens. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) says in a report that if the EPA is signed, local industries will struggle to withstand competitive pressures from EU firms, while the region will be stuck in its position as a low value-added commodity exporter. "If the EAC-EU EPA is fully implemented, the region risks losing trading opportunities with other partners, industrial output, welfare and GDP," the 45-page report seen by The EastAfrican says. The report titled Analysis of the Impact of the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement on the EAC Economies is yet to be made public and is expected to be discussed by the Council of Ministers in the "days to come," according to sources at the EAC Secretariat. But according to David Luke, co-ordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at UNECA, the deal with Europe will be calamitous unless EAC countries are able to clearly define what their infant industries are, as well as identify sub-sectors they intend to protect. "While the EPA purportedly intends to respect regional integration programmes, they are adding to the complexity of the task. Additional burdens are created through provisions that complicate or contradict the agreements African states have with each other or are about to make," Mr Luke said. Rwanda's Minister of Trade, Industry and EAC...

Improved efficiency at the Dar es Salaam port has enhanced the volume of cargo handling, with promise of an additional 120,000 tonnes of imports and exports to an annual freight tonnage of 16 million. The Director General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Eng. Deusdedit Kakoko, maintained yesterday that the volume of cargo has continued to record an upward trend during the last quarter of last year and first quarter of this year. "We recorded an impressive surge in traffic of cargo between October and December, last year and this was maintained during January to March, this year," he explained. To spice-it all up, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Simba Logistics Limited, Mr Azim Dewji, assured the port management of exports and imports totalling 10,000 tonnes each month, translating to about 120,000 per annum. Mr Dewji, a prominent businessman dealing in transport and logistics, hailed the Fifth Phase Government under President John Magufuli, for sweeping reforms at the port which have considerably improved efficiency. The businessman was speaking at the port during an occasion to receive a fleet of over 50 long-distance trucks loaded with heavy machinery destined for mining and processing of minerals in the Eastern parts of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "We have clients in DRC who will be importing machinery for mining and construction projects and at the same time will be transporting through the Dar es Salaam port copper and other exports from DRC and Zambia. "... we had issues of red-tape from government authorities...

The Export Promotion Council has partnered with the International Trade Centre and Barclays Bank to empower women in the textile and apparel sector. This is under the “Empowering Women in Trade in East Africa Project 2016-17” being implemented by ITC and funded by Trade Mark East Africa. The projects aims at enabling women owned Small and Medium-sized enterprises working in selected sectors in East Africa to trade, by increasing the value of their international business transactions. The deal involves capacity building training to enable the women meet among others, international quality standards, to enable their products reach foreign markets. “We want to the business women understand the textile and apparel buyer requirements and how to manufacture apparel to meet international standards,” EPC newly appointed CEO Peter Biwott said in a statement yesterday. Source: News Summed Up

Holding capacity for Nairobi’s Inland Container Depot is set to be increased from 180,000 to 450,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUS) by May 1, the transport ministry has announced. Transport Secretary James Macharia said the adjustment will start upon completion of the ongoing construction. So far, the Kenya Ports Authority has acquired and installed 12 high-capacity cranes that can handle four export and four import Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) cargo trains daily. Each train has a total tonnage capacity of 4,000. “Efficiency at the Nairobi ICD facility will reduce freight charges which will lower prices of basic commodities for the mwananchi,” he said. Mr Macharia said the facility with a capacity to handle 450,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (containers) will provide one-stop shop services for exporters and importers thereby easing costs incurred for goods transported to Mombasa by road and those from Mombasa which usually takes an average of three days. But with the new high speed Standard Gauge Railway facility, a cargo locomotive moving at 80 kilometres per hour will take an average of eight hours, equivalent to 216 trucks that take three days to cover the 472 kilometre journey. In an interview, Kenya Railways Chief Executive Atanas Maina said the ICD would operate on a 24hour basis with the facility run on a modern information technology platform where importers and exporters will seamlessly clear cargo. “We anticipate a situation where importers will be able to clear goods on the same day from our ICD Nairobi depot to their go-downs...

The East African Community (EAC) is set to issue a common travel passport. The move was announced following a just-concluded meeting of EAC Council of Ministers in Arusha, Tanzania. According to Tanzania Daily News, member countries of the EAC have been directed to start issuing the new machine-readable common passport by January 31, 2018. The common passport, which had previously been slated to begin in April 2017, had to be rescheduled and shifted by one year to allow all countries to meet a uniform deadline. An official report from the 35th EAC Council of Ministers meeting revealed that Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda were ready to commence the common passport regime; however, Tanzania and South Sudan could only realistically commence issuance of the new passport by 2018. A resolution reached at the 17th ordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State directed all member nations to gradually phase out the current national passports between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2018. When launched, the new common passport is expected to guarantee citizens of the six-member nation regional body seamless cross border travel for business, pleasure, and learning. It will also create a common market for goods and services and boost the free movement of people within the regional bloc. The new e-passport will have diplomatic, service as well as standard categories. Regular passports will be valid for up 10 years while diplomatic passports will be valid according to the term of service. The passports will come with a chip that stores...

The East African Community (EAC) is to rebrand itself, a new development that will see changes in the EAC emblem and symbols. This will affect the flag, the emblem and the EAC theme colours, according to a press release issued by the Principal Public Relations Officer Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Uganda, Cris Magoba. “The EAC Brand Architecture Strategy proposes several initiatives that include re-designing a new EAC logo and flag, developing a common unique identifier for all organs and institutions; developing one primary (main) EAC corporate colour and one secondary colour; and developing a single visual identity emblem for the Community,” he said. He explained that the EAC Brand Architecture Strategy comes in the wake of the admission of the Republic of South Sudan and the possibility of the future expansion of the Community in line with Article 3 of the Treaty establishing the EAC. Article 3, Clause 2 of the Treaty provides that: 'The Partner states may, upon such terms and in such manner as they may determine, together  negotiate  with  any  foreign  country  the  granting  of  membership  to,  or association of that country with, the Community or its participation in any of the activities of the Community'. Currently the emblem features a map of Lake Victoria with the partner states Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda around it. This is surrounded by an industrial wheel with a leave arch on either side with the letters 'EAC' at the top. At the bottom of the emblem is...

Reports that Kenya's exports within the East African Community bloc and specifically to Uganda have dropped are cause for worry. Some of Kenya's exports in the region include petroleum products, fish, cement, sisal and pyrethrum. For long, Uganda has been Kenya's biggest export market, bringing in Sh68.5 billion and Sh62 billion in 2015 and 20016 respectively. Achieving an economy of scale was therefore easy compared to exporting locally produced elsewhere. Arguably, Kenya has the biggest economy in the region that, by all means, must be sustained. Losing the grip that we as a country have had in the region will impact negatively on the economy. This raises the fundamental question that if we can't win in the region, how can we win abroad where, because of the many options and the efficient and cheaper models of production make competition is fierce? The findings of the 2016 Economic Survey that show Kenya's export value to the East African Community region dropped by 4 per cent are a pointer to what needs to be done. An export regime that largely relies on raw material is not sustainable in the long term. There have been steps to ensure value addition becomes an integral part of our export promotion. Source: Standard Media