Rwanda has joined Kenya and Uganda in adopting the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS)which connects the electronic cargo tracking systems of the three countries. The RECTS which was commissioned by the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) enables them to jointly and seamlessly track cargo from port to destination on a twenty-four basis. The Northern Corridor Heads of States directed the implementation of the system in 2014 to improve tax collection and facilitate cargo handling and data through advanced technology along the corridor. It is expected to enhance cargo security and transparency as well as reduce transit time and cost of transportation. Through the RECTS Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda will seal loopholes that result in loss of revenue because of diversion of un-taxed goods into the market and eliminated the need for physical escort and monitoring of sensitive cargo such as batteries, fuel and cigaretters. The RECTS has been supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) through TradeMark Africa (TMA). “The UK is truly excited about the role that the RECTS will have in reducing the cost of doing business across East Africa and harnessing Rwanda’s trade potential,” Sally Waples, DFIF Rwanda said. Source: Footprint to Africa

After Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda commissioned the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS), Tanzania is also being engaged to join the system so as to further boost trade along the Kigali-Dar es Salaam route, officials confirm. In Rwanda, establishment of the e-Cargo tracking system meant to reduce the cost of doing business by reducing transit time, enhancing cargo safety and helping traders better predict arrival of goods, was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through Trademark East Africa (TMA) at a cost of $4.5 million (nearly Rwf3.7 billion). Patience Mutesi, TMA country director, says an engagement started with Tanzanian authorities to extend the system there as well. “Since 80% of Rwanda’s exports and imports are routed through the Dar port, it is important for Rwandan traders that Tanzania gets on board the RECTS for cost and time gains which would come as a result of cargo safety and increased truck productivity along the Kigali-Dar route,” Mutesi said. The system now connects Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda enabling them to jointly track transit cargo from port to destination on a 24-hour basis. François Kanimba, the Minister for Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs, is optimistic that even though procuring the system is costly, TMA “accepted to support Tanzania as has been done in other countries”. The only problem would be, he observed, the fact that procuring the system takes time. Kanimba said: “As regards implementation, in Tanzania, there will be no problem. It is already a member of...

Despite ambitious projects, trade in the region and in the country continues to face significant challenges that have excluded a number of players or reduced the returns on investments. However, experts remain ambitious on the potential of trade in driving growth in the country and in the region. The New Times’ Collins Mwai spoke to Arancha Gonzalez, the executive director of the International Trade Centre on various aspects of local and regional trade and ways to tap into opportunities. Excerpts below: There has been a lot of talk on the potential of e-commerce in raising the profile of Rwanda and East African products and increasing exports. How realistic is it in the short term? This is an area we are working together with the government to open a window through which companies in Rwanda can trade directly with the rest of the world through e-commerce. They do that without mediators to capture a greater part of the value. That is easy to say but difficult to do. There are some challenges linked to digital gaps – digital infrastructure divides—where the Ministry of Youth and ICT has made clear commitments. Partly, it has to do with softer issues like connecting to online payments. Others have to do with financial regulation and legislation. At times it has to do with attracting traffic to your platform and products. On all of these, we are working with the government and a handful of companies to roll out e-commerce hopefully by the summer this year...

New measures to protect local industries and farmers from cheap imports will be known in June once the East African Community partner states agree on taxation rates. The region’s finance ministers will meet next month meet to agree on a new Common External Tariff (CET) on products like sugar, maize, wheat and rice, as well as customs-related taxation measures designed to protect local industries from cheap imports and unfair competition. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury Henry Rotich said taxation measures that will be agreed on by the EAC ministers for finance will be communicated through the EAC Gazette Notice and implemented from July 1. “On matters relating to Customs, we have evaluated various proposals from stakeholders for consideration by the EAC ministers for finance during the pre-budget consultations meeting to be held in May this year,” Mr Rotich told lawmakers in Nairobi while presenting the country’s 2017/2018 budget. The current CET is based on three bands of 25 per cent for finished goods, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and zero per cent for raw materials and capital goods, with a limited number of products under the sensitive list, which attract rates above the maximum rate of 25 per cent. The three-band tariff has been blamed for killing competitiveness of local companies and obstructing intra-regional trade by forcing them to pay duty at the rate of 25 per cent on some imported inputs, which should have ordinarily attracted zero per cent or 10 per cent duty. The EAC CET was last reviewed in 2010 but the...

Au travers de cet accord, TMA, une institution de facilitation du commerce, reproduira et consolidera son succès à contribuer dans la facilitation du commerce transfrontalier, et plus encore dans le cas présent, à investir dans des ressources déjà disponibles comme le transport lacustre et à faciliter l'adoption des technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) le long de la région Est de la RDC. Le Gouvernement des Pays-Bas a pris un engagement de 6,7 millions de dollars pour lancer des projets y relatifs. Les projets comprendront: le dragage et la réhabilitation du port de Kalundu sur le lac Tanganyika, le soutien au commerce transfrontalier, qui impliquera le renforcement des capacités ainsi que la mise en œuvre de systèmes intégrés de gestion des frontières aux postes frontaliers de Rusizi entre le Rwanda et la ville de Bukavu; la réhabilitation des ports de Kasenyi (coté RDC) et Ntoroko (coté Ouganda) et enfin les travaux d'infrastructure au poste frontalier de Goli (coté Ouganda) - Mahagi (coté RDC). L'engagement de TMA auprès de la RDC permettra de consolider les avantages résultant d'une intervention similaire qu'elle a facilitée en Afrique de l'Est, surtout au niveau des routes principales de transport de la région, notamment le Corridor Nord allant de Mombasa et reliant l'Ouganda, le Rwanda, la RDC et le Sud Soudan ; ainsi que le Corridor Central, reliant le port de Dar es Salaam au Rwanda, au Burundi et à l'Est de la RDC par transport routier et lacustre. Lors d'une visite à la...

TradeMark Africa (TMA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to facilitate projects that will improve cross border trade and enhance trade links between the country and East Africa Community member states. With the MOU in force, TMA, a leading trade facilitation institution, will replicate and consolidate its success in contributing to the ease of trading across borders and in this case, by investing in already available resources like water transport, simplifying trade processes through training and facilitating adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) around Eastern DRC.  The government of the Netherlands made a commitment of USD 6.7Million to kick-start the projects. The projects will comprise dredging and rehabilitation of Kalundu port on Lake Tanganyika, support to cross border trade which will include capacity building and implementation of Integrated Border Management systems on the border crossings in Rusizi between Rwanda and Bukavu; rehabilitation of the Ports of Kasenyi (DRC) and Ntoroko (Uganda) and finally infrastructure work at the border crossing at Goli (Uganda) Mahagi (DRC). TMA involvement with DRC consolidate the benefits accrued from similar intervention it has facilitated in East Africa and especially along the regions’ main transport routes including the Northern Corridor from Mombasa linking Uganda, Rwanda, DRC and South Sudan. And  Central Corridor, connecting Dar es salaam port to Rwanda, Burundi, and  Eastern DRC by road and lake transport. During a visit to State House after the signing ceremony the DRC Directeur du Cabinet, at State House Prof. Nehemie Wilondja, stated that...

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has launched two agriculture support programmes valued at €22m (Shs80b) for improved seed quality and market linkages for farmers. The two programmes set to run for the next five years, are targeting the entire value chain in the agriculture sector right from seed distribution to linking farmers to the private sector buyers of the produce. “Uganda’s agriculture sector has a great potential to transform the country and the livelihood of Ugandans. Using our Dutch experience and success in agriculture, we believe that by end of 2020, at least 350,000 households will be positively impacted by the projects,” said HE Henk Jan Bakker, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands told reporters on the sidelines of the launch at his residence in Kololo, Kampala on Wednesday evening. The Integrated Seed Sector Development Plus (ISSD Plus) will target access and production of high-quality seeds through research in partnership with the National Agricultural Research Organization. On the other hand, Resilient Efficient Agribusiness Chains (REACH Uganda) will link about 40,000 farmers in Kigezi, the Lake Kyoga region and the Sebei region to the market. The target is mainly for farmers growing rice and potatoes. “In addition to providing quality seed, the issue of climate change will also be tackled through the dissemination of climate smart varieties and other technologies that go with it. This will be greatly facilitated by the mutual partnership with NARO in the implementation of the Euro 10m ISSF Plus project as NARO is the...

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich says of the amount, Sh63.6 billion will go towards the ongoing road construction while Sh44.3 billion will be directed to foreign co-financed roads. Further, Sh27 billion will be used for low volume seal roads and Sh49.3 billion for road maintenance from the Road Maintenance Levy. At the same time, Sh75.6 billion has been committed to the Standard Gauge Railway from which Sh15.5 billion will go to the completion of the first phase and Sh59.7 billion towards the construction of second phase from Nairobi to Naivasha. Further, Sh400 million will be used to relocate the people along the railway line. “Once completed, SGR will help to integrate domestic markets, link special industrial zones and bring global export markets closer home. The construction of the first phase is nearing completion and we expect Kenyans to enjoy a decent ride from Mombasa to Nairobi starting June 1 2017. At the same time, we are glad to announce that the construction of the second phase has already began,” Rotich said during his budget presentation in Parliament. The government has also allocated Sh10 billion to the LAPPSET project and Sh3.6 billion from development partners towards the Mombasa Port development partners and Sh200 million for the maintenance of ferries. “The first phase of the second container terminal at the port of Mombasa has been completed and is expected to improve cargo handling services and strengthen Mombasa as a preferred port of call in East Africa.” A total of Sh2.6 billion has...

Mar 30, 2017: Cargo scanners will be installed at some stations along the Standard Gauge Railway line, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said on Tuesday. John Bisonga, the regional chief manager for customs and border control, said the scanners would be used to monitor cargo ferried by SGR trains. The SGR cargo trains are set to begin operating between Mombasa and Nairobi on June 1. It is expected that four trains will each haul 200 containers each day, with the trip between the port and the capital taking eight hours. Two passenger trains will move an estimated 1,000 people daily in just four and half hours. “The number of containers that will be transported using the trains is huge and we will need to ensure there is proper surveillance. Drive-through scanners will also be installed along the SGR route,” he said during a workshop for journalists based in Mombasa. There are seven stations between Mombasa and Nairobi; at Mariakani, Miasenyi, Voi, Mtito Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi River. Although Bisonga did not state the amount of money KRA had set aside for the project, he said already, plans were underway to ensure scanners were also installed at the Embakasi Inland Container Depot (ICD) where the cargo will be stored. The ICD occupies 29 hectares of land and has a stacking yard with an annual capacity of more than 180,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). The Sh22-billion facility will handle big volumes of cargo and is expected to play a crucial role in...

Arusha. Nearly seven years after the coming into force of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol, the issue of free movement of labour is still contentious. Concerted advocacy by lobby groups such as the East African Employers Organisation (EAEO), the East African Trade Unions Confederation (EATUC) and others do not appear to have yielded much results. However, Tanzania, which has been viewed as being largely against the free movement of workers in its attempt to protect its national labour force, has reduced its residence permit fees by 50 per cent. For Ms Rosemary Ssenabulya, EAEO chairperson, this was “a great achievement” in the EAC integration process considering that it was the most contentious issues the organisation has been advocating for in the last two years. It was in 2015 when the employers’ body presented a joint petition with EATUC to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) on removing barriers to free movement of workers. “However, we still need to do more lobbying in this area until the fees are harmonised to zero the way other partner states of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have done,” she said during an annual general meeting of EAEO held in Arusha last week. Towards the end of last year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta asked Tanzania and Burundi to waive work permit charges in the spirit of EAC of allowing free movement of people and goods. He said the dream of a borderless East Africa would be realised if all partner states honoured an...