African states have been urged to embrace a harmonized Products Conformity Assessment to Standards (IPCA) scheme to boost intra-regional trade. Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana, the Secretary General for African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO) said Africa cannot achieve macro-economic growth without harmonized standards including IPCA. Nsengimana, said government must move fast enough to harmonize standards and have the scheme implemented to facilitate cross border trade on the continent. He was speaking during a one day workshop on standardization and trade regulation policies in Africa held in Kigali on Wednesday. He said even with more than 800 harmonized standards on African continent, implementation is still a challenge for most states which has affected intra-regional trade. “We are therefore urging states to expedite the implementation process through coordinated collaboration to facilitate trade,” he noted. Last month, ARSO member states signed an agreement establishing cooperation in the field of standardization and Quality on the basis of International principles and regulations. Members committed to ensuring that their standardization programmes and activities facilitate regional and international trade. Caroline Outa Ogwena, the ARSO chairperson, emphasized the need for mutual recognition and collaboration to make the process of pre inspection shipment more easy. Meanwhile, Antoinette Mbabazi, the National Certification Manager, at Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) said product Conformity Assessment scheme is key to ensuring quality along value chain. The standards watchdog last month said it had suspended a decision by government to contract private firms to carry-out pre-shipment inspection for goods destined to Rwanda. Philip Nzaire, the RSB quality...

Rwanda is to host the 2nd high-level East African Manufacturing Business Summit and Exhibition (EAMBS) organised by the East African Community (EAC). The summit will take place in the Rwandan capital, Kigali from May 23 to 25, 2017, according to the EAC secretariat in Arusha. The three-day conference themed "Harnessing the Manufacturing Potential for Sustainable  Economic Growth" will bring together top executives in the manufacturing and agri-business sectors, policy and decision makers, as well as key financial institutions from Africa and beyond to dialogue and explore opportunities for investment in manufacturing and agri-business in the EAC region. The EAMBS will include an exhibition where investors, enterprises, researchers and academia will collectively showcase new products and services as well as exhibit the latest advances in manufacturing technology and innovation, particularly those with relevance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) The official opening of the Summit is expected to be presided over by the President of the Republic Rwanda, Paul Kagame. Speaking  ahead of the Manufacturing Summit, the Director of Productive Sectors at the EAC Secretariat, Jean Baptiste Havugimana, said  the Summit which is co-organized by the EAC Secretariat, the East African Business Council (EABC) and Government of Rwanda, will provide a strategic platform for an extensive and intensive dialogue on opportunities and challenges of industrialisation in the region. Havugimana noted  that Summit is a platform borne out of the recognition that sustainable economic growth and development in East Africa is unattainable without creating a vibrant and diversified manufacturing sector. ”The Manufacturing...

As the elections for the nine representatives to the East Africa regional body’s Parliament draw near, the candidates are spending most of the time at Parliament trying to solicit their support. There are six candidates from NRM, the ruling party, one from the Forum for the Democratic Change, one from UPC, one from DP and over 30 independents. As the elections EALA draw near, the candidates are spending most of the time at Parliament trying to solicit their support. As the elections for the nine representatives to the East Africa regional body’s Parliament draw near, the candidates are spending most of the time at Parliament trying to solicit their support. There are six candidates from NRM, the ruling party, one from the Forum for the Democratic Change, one from UPC, one from DP and over 30 independents. Janet Kenyangi Kikwaya (Independent) At 24, she is the youngest in the race Q: What motivated you to contest for the EALA seat? I have always been involved right from primary three at Margaret Preparatory School up to Senior Six at Kyeizooba Girls Secondary School. I look at politics as way of serving people.  Q: What do think has been lacking in EALA and which value would you intend to add there? EALA has signed a lot of protocols on peace and security, integration, non-tariff barriers; however, most of the protocols signed are not implemented. I will make sure that all the protocols and policies signed are implemented as well as deepening integration among...

  African nations need to work a little harder to attract Chinese tourists, according to the  nations of Chad and Rwanda – along with Oman and Jordan – have ratified the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, pushing the agreement past its necessary two-thirds threshold among WTO members to enter into force. "I am very happy to announce that the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement has now entered into force," said Roberto Azevêdo, the WTO director general, on Wednesday. “By ratifying the agreement, WTO members have shown their commitment to the multilateral trading system. They have followed through on the promises made when this deal was struck in Bali just over three years ago.” Since November 2014, ratification of The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has been open. It is a comprehensive effort to streamline trade at borders around the globe by using a shared set of transport rules and customs procedures. That’s expected to reduce trade costs across the globe by an average of 14.3 percent. Developing and least-developed countries are expected to benefit from the TFA. “It will help these countries to diversify their trade,” Azevêdo said. “Developing countries could increase the number of products they export by 20 percent, while LDCs could see an increase of up to 35 percent.” The move was welcomed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents airlines that account for 83 percent of global air traffic and one third of the cargo that crosses the world’s borders. “It’s a particularly timely reminder of...

GENEVA –An international agreement forecast to boost global trade by $1 trillion (£800bn) a year has come into force. The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevedo, called it "the biggest reform of global trade in a generation". The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) involves streamlining customs procedures. Mr Azevedo said it would have a bigger impact than eliminating all existing taxes on imports, known as tariffs. It involves countries signing up to a long list of reforms, including easier access for businesses to information, reduced fees and simpler and faster procedures. WTO economists estimated it would cut the cost of trading by 14.3%, and that developing nations would gain the most. TFA is one of the few successes of a much wider set of negotiations that were launched in late 2001 in the Qatari capital and known as the Doha Round. It is not the only product of the Doha Round, but most of the negotiating agenda ran into the sand. The TFA was finally agreed at a meeting in Bali 2013, but could not come into force until 110 countries had ratified it. That is what has now happened. Mr Azevedo said the agreement would boost global trade by up to $1 trillion a year. This development comes at a time when there is increasing uncertainty about the outlook for the agenda of increasing trade liberalisation that the WTO embodies. The new US President Donald Trump wants to renegotiate the country's trade agreement with Canada and...

Test rides on the standard gauge railway will start next month to ensure optimum performance once full operations begin in June, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure announced yesterday. Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the construction works on the SGR are 99 per cent complete, adding the 472-kilometre track and other installations are in place. “The contractor will add all the facilities after testing for the purposes of operations and maintenance of the trains,” the CS said. The Kenya Railways Corporation has so far received eight freight haulage heavy-duty locomotives for mainline use out of the expected 43, and two shunting locomotives out of eight ordered for the SGR. Last week the KRC received 60 wagons in the first batch of 1,620 freight haulage rolling stock. Two more passenger coaches are expected by May. Macharia spoke when he flagged off trains carrying 35 students, including 15 women, who are going to study in China under a scholarship by the SGR main contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation and the KRC. He said the ministry has set aside up to Sh1 billion for the construction of a business school within the Railway Training Institute targeting about 1,000 students who will be taught how to operate the SGR and will help build the second phase of the project. CRBC general manager Sun Liqiang said they will work with the ministry to sponsor more students. Source: The Star

The WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has entered into force, with supporters hailing it as the greatest single achievement in the organisation’s history. The ratification is a timely boost for free trade advocates, at a time when the populist protectionist rhetoric of US President Donald Trump has been dominating the debate. The TFA has been under discussion since 1996 and has been awaiting ratification since 2013. The process was slow, but at last, the WTO has a ratified agreement. The TFA standardises customs procedures among WTO member states, cutting costs and reducing the time it takes to export and import goods. The WTO forecasts that it will slash trade costs for members by 14.3% on average, boosting global trade by up to US$1tn per year. A 2015 study by the WTO estimates that the TFA would reduce time to market for imports by a day and a half, and two days for exports. This is a reduction of 47% and 91% for imports and exports, respectively. The study says that TFA will add 2.7% a year to world export growth up to 2030. This would equate to 0.5% of global GDP – a huge boost at a time when global trade growth is stagnating and the benefits of globalisation are under scrutiny. The TFA passed the required threshold of 110 members when Chad, Jordan, Oman and Rwanda submitted their instruments of acceptance, and the general consensus is that by streamlining trade facilitation, the developing world will be the biggest winner. “This would boost global trade by...

The population of Africa is presently 1.2 billion and growing at a rate of 2.5% a year, more than twice that of any other continent. In two years’ time, it will gain the population of the UK; in 12 years of compounded growth it will gain the population of China. All these extra people may add dynamism to economies, but only if the increase in labour supply can be matched by an equivalent increase in economic activity; otherwise, rising population density may destabilise social and political systems – an effect already seen in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This challenge has led to a different pattern of development for ports on Africa’s east coast, compared to the west coast. In the west, the centres served by these ports are close by, sometimes right outside the port gate. In east Africa, by contrast, they are between 500km and 1,000km away, and most of the infrastructure needed to reach them has not yet been built. In the case of the Doraleh container terminal at Djibouti, the goal is the Ethiopian highlands and the valley of the White Nile at Khartoum, a cluster roughly equivalent to the population of Japan. In East Africa, a similar-sized population is grouped in the Great Lakes states, South Sudan and the DRC. All of these centres, with the marginal exception of the DRC, are landlocked. Their ability to attract investment and benefit from globalisation depends, among other things, on having efficient rail, road and...

Juba — South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Tuesday regretted recent tense relations with both the United States and the United Nations and vowed to restore strong ties "We must admit our relation with the UN has not been smooth over the last three years. However, the new UN Secretary General is a pragmatic man and my government pledges to work with him very closely to improve our relationship with the UN system," Kiir UNtold parliament in Juba. "The new Head of UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is also someone I have confidence will work closely with the government to improve our relations," he added. Kiir disclosed that the UN and the international community had in the past bullied and treated his country with contempt and praised African countries like Egypt, Senegal and Angola which ensured that a U.S.-led proposal to impose arms embargo and sanctions against South Sudan failed at the UN Security Council. "While we are grateful for all the support we have received from the international community and the UN system, our main point of contention with the UN has been that South Sudan was not accorded the respect that it deserves as a member state of this world body. We were treated with contempt and largely bullied and we hope this treatment will be put to an end," Kiir said. The president said South Sudan is also prepared for an improved diplomatic relation with the United States. "It is no secret we had a strong...

Mombasa — The East African Community (EAC) has reminded election monitoring bodies and media organisations in partner states to use its treaty in line with their respective countries' legal frameworks when managing and covering elections to maintain free and fair polls. The regional bloc has principles for election observation and evaluation based on among others, its treaty. The principles are based on international standards, Union Charter on Human Peoples' Rights and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. The regional body made the statement during a three-day capacity building workshop for election monitoring bodies and other stakeholders to assess fairness of the political space and campaign playing field through media monitoring. Funded by the European Union (EU), the workshop is expected to equip stakeholders with full knowledge and skill in using media to get a firsthand and at glance assessment information in regard to political space and campaign playing field fairness. "Use the treaty as reference in the course of making the elections free and fair in the region," EAC's Deputy Secretary General (Political Federation), Mr Charles Njoroge, said yesterday. He pointed out that the media plays an indispensable role in the proper functioning of a democracy, and within an electoral context, the media is expected to play a transparency "watchdog" role. "If the media's role is vital in the normal course of events, exceptional periods such as elections can put its impartiality and objectivity to harsh test," he argued. Mr Gerard Guedegbe, media training expert based in Benin,...