Turkey and Tanzania have signed nine agreements in defense, economic development, and health during a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the East African country, according to Anadolu Agency. Erdoğan, accompanied by several Turkish officials and trade representatives, met his Tanzanian counterpart, John Magufuli, at the country’s Presidential Palace. At a joint press conference after the signing ceremony, Magufuli said the agreements would strengthen the development of both countries. Erdoğan said the bilateral and inter-delegations meetings were “fruitful” for both Turkey and Tanzania. “We will further deepen our cooperation with the new projects in the economy, trade, tourism, agriculture, railways, industry and construction, and the agreements we have signed clearly demonstrate our determination in this direction,” Erdoğan said. Addressing businesspeople of both countries at a Turkish-Tanzanian business forum held by Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), Erdoğan said Ankara sought to boost investments by contributing to Tanzania’s development. “We believe that we have to increase our bilateral trade volume, which is below $150 million, to higher levels,” he said. “We agreed during bilateral negotiations that we have to increase this goal first to $250 million and then to $500 million. The progress we have made in recent years shows that these figures are reachable.” Magufuli said Turkish investors had employed more than 2,000 people in Tanzania. Tanzania asked for a loan from the state-owned Export Credit Bank of Turkey (Eximbank) to help finance a stretch of a new railway it hopes will help it open up East Africa’s...

Nairobi – January 24, 2017 – Finland has granted 9.8 million Euros to TradeMark Africa (TMA) to support its work in enhancing trade across the East African Community to increase prosperity in the region. The agreement will advance common goals of increasing trade within East Africa by reducing the time and cost of transiting and transporting goods. The partnership will also support East African Community (EAC) regional trade integration. This grant is also expected to broaden TMAs regional integration program at the Port of Dar es Salaam and key border posts along the Central Corridors, and will work with EAC Member States to remove barriers to trade. The agreement was signed by the Finnish Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Tarja Fernández and Frank Matsaert, CEO, TradeMark Africa. Finland’s strategy for development cooperation and action plan for aid for trade put more emphasis on the development of trade and regional economic integration. The Finnish government believes that supporting increased trade in the region in combination with assistance to the private sector will accelerate economic growth and jobs, with the ultimate goal of poverty reduction. Finnish Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Tarja Fernández said: “We know that the new strategy will move the region beyond the accomplishments of the past, creating job opportunities, and opening up, until now, marginalised areas to development through interventions at various nodes of East Africa Trade Network from ports to the hinterlands. That is why we are committed to supporting the second phase of TMA’s programme.” TMA aims to...

IN SUMMARY An industry report released by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) indicates that earnings dropped from Sh125 billion in 2015 to Sh120 billion last year. Kenya’s tea export earnings declined by 3.6 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year due to a rise in volumes at the auction whose impact was partly mitigated by a strong dollar. However, the government yesterday projected record growth of earnings to Sh133 billion this year driven by good prices and reduced volumes. An industry report released by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) indicates that earnings dropped from Sh125 billion in 2015 to Sh120 billion last year. Announcing the performance, AFA board chairman Raphael Lekolool said the volumes grew by 18 per cent to 473 million kilogrammes from 399 million kilogrammes in 2015, pushing down the average price of the beverage to Sh236 per kilo last year from Sh298 the previous year. However, the negative impact was slightly mitigated by strong dollar rates, said Mr Lekolool. The ongoing drought is expected to cut tea production by 12 per cent to 416 million kilogrammes. Consequently, export volumes are expected to drop by the same margin while export earnings are projected to hit a record Sh133 billion in 2017. “With regard to auction prices, a 22 per cent increase is expected from an average of Sh236 per kilogramme recorded in 2016 to Sh290,” he said. Kericho County recorded the highest production of 93.1 million kilogrammes followed by Bomet at 72.7 million and...

Kenya  is about five months to the commissioning of its Chinese funded rail connection between its capital of Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa. The 472-kilometer railway is 90 per cent funded by Chinese Exim Bank. The commissioning is scheduled for June 2017. The project will cost $3.8billion. In readiness, a batch of modern hybrid long-distance passenger trains for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), will arrive in the country in February, a railway official said. Kenya Railways Managing Director, Atanas Maina, said the five passenger locomotives are part of the 56 locomotives expected in the country prior to the launch of the SGR in June. “These passenger locomotives will cut down a 12-hour journey from Nairobi to Mombasa to just over four hours. Furthermore, the line will result in significant cuts in journey times between Kenya, Uganda and eventually to Kigali, in Rwanda,” Maina said in a statement issued in Nairobi. The government anticipates that incomes for ordinary Kenyans will rise substantially while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 1.5 percent. Maina said the ultra-modern 6,000 litres of diesel powered locomotives can run at a top speed of 158 kilometres per hour and have an overall length of 220 meters. He said Kenya Railways will receive 40 passenger coaches which will have varying capacities with the economy class accommodating 118 passengers in each coach and 72 in the First-Class coach. Its low-weight and optimized aerodynamic design will reduce fuel consumption substantially. “These passenger locos will usher Kenya into in...

East African Community (EAC) leaders should be concerned that the economic bloc has yet to unlock the region’s potential as envisaged more than two decades ago. At inception, the EAC was expected to avoid the pitfalls that had led to the collapse of its predecessor. Regrettably, the then regional leaders chose to gloss over their differences instead of going to the core of the problems and uprooting them once and for all. The result is that the intensity of bilateral trade within the EAC – according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report – lags behind that within Asia, America and Europe. These regions are the gold standard towards which the EAC, and indeed Africa, should aspire. But to get there from where it is today, regional leaders have to redefine their goals and agree on policies that will get them there. For starters, the leaders need to hold open dialogue with their manufacturers and traders to find out the reasons behind the latter’s importation of goods from Asia when the same are produced in neighbouring countries. The importation of processed foods and beverages is especially perplexing considering that the region is awash with industries producing these. The issue of price should not be a key determinant because this can be remedied by agreeing to levy a specific tariff to keep the business within the region. Perhaps a case could be made for going back to the original agreements reached in the 1960s after Kenya, Uganda and the then Tanganyika...

IN SUMMARY TMA is funded by a range of development agencies with the aim of enhancing prosperity in the East African Community (EAC) through trade. Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) will today receive a grant of 9.8 million Euros (over Sh1 billion) from the government of Finland to enhance trade and economic integration in the region. TMA is funded by a range of development agencies with the aim of enhancing prosperity in the East African Community (EAC) through trade. “We believe that enhanced trade contributes to economic growth, a reduction in poverty and subsequently increased prosperity,” TMA said. The grant signatories will be Finland ambassador to Kenya Tarja Fernandez and TMA chief executive Frank Matsaert. TMA has been working with EAC institutions, governments, the private sector and civil society organisations to increase trade by unlocking economic potential through increased physical access to markets. In December last year, TMA signed a Sh150 million agreement with East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) to automate tea trading at the Mombasa auction. Source: Business Daily Africa

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping took to the stage at the 43rd summit of the World Economic Forum, (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. He was the first Chinese president to ever address the annual conference. At an exclusive ski resort on the Swiss Alps, President Xi, flanked by some of China’s billionaires, made a spirited defence for globalisation. He started his 54-minute address by referencing the opening of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. “Today, we also live in a world of contradictions,” he said. “On the one hand, growing material wealth and advancements in science and technology have seen human civilisations develop as never before. On the other hand, however, frequent regional conflicts, global challenges like terrorism and refugees, as well as poverty, unemployment and the widening income gap have added to the uncertainties of the world.” Few countries understand the import of globalisation as clearly as China does since adopting more outward-looking market reforms in 1978. The reforms, dubbed gaige kai- fang, which loosely translates to “change the system, open the door”, saw China emerge as a strategic cog in the global value chain. Economic miracle Strategic sectors of China’s economy, including manufacturing and the financial sector, opened up to international trade and foreign direct investment. The country became a major assembly outpost for everything, from iPhones to nuclear reactors. For close to 25 years straight, China’s GDP growth averaged nearly 10 per cent annually. The country accomplished what the World Bank defines as a near economic...

This week saw another gathering of the world’s powerful in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, which opened on Monday and ended on Friday. The theme for this year was economic growth and social inclusion. Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of Oxfam International, got the ball rolling when she said that eight men own as much wealth as half the population of the world. This prompted leaders at the forum to grapple with the question of creating wealth in a capitalist world while eliminating poverty. In his article on the forum’s agenda, Andrew Liveris, CEO of the Dow chemical company said inclusive capitalism is ultimately about re-embracing the purest purpose of business: Solving problems and improving people’s lives. The Swiss president, Doris Leuthard, added her voice to the conversation when she said that the forum should come up with strategies to ensure that the sharp divide between the rich and poor does not get larger. Additionally, Jean Lebel, President of the International Development Research Centre, challenged the world to use ICT to foster inclusion of women in economic growth. Her organisation has partnered with the World Economic Forum to collect data and empower leaders to implement discussions on inclusive growth by providing a data bank on the successes of inclusive strategies. The global agenda included globalisation, digitisation and the fourth industrial revolution, handling the refugee problem and the role of the US and China in the global economy. Chinese president Xi Jinping started off the conversation on globalisation during...

The initiative includes both an upgrade to existing tracks and new rail lines that will be laid along the country’s central transport corridor and beyond, with work slated to begin before the end of the current fiscal year in June. Once completed, the project will provide Tanzania with an extensive standard-gauge railway network, which will not only reduce costs and delays for internal trade, but also have a similar impact on shipments between the Port of Dar es Salaam and neighbouring countries, such as Zambia, Burundi and Rwanda. Developments will be largely financed by China’s Exim Bank, after the government signed a memorandum of understanding with the lender for the $7.6bn Central Corridor Railway (CCR) project, which will modernise 2190 km of the country’s existing rail network. The route is an essential component of Tanzania’s main freight and passenger transport backbone, forming part of the Central Corridor of East and Central Eastern Africa, which connects the Port of Dar es Salaam by road, rail and inland waterways to Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Long overdue Tanzania’s rail services have long been neglected, resulting in a steady decline of freight volumes. Currently, as is often the case in African markets, road networks handle the vast majority of internal distribution. However, the government has signalled its intention to make the CCR a priority, setting aside $455m for the project in the 2016/17 budget to top up the funding from China. Makame Mbarawa, Tanzania’s...

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - In the last one year Tanzania through its program “Big Result Now” (BRN) has recorded an impressive performance of the minimum average of five days in the clearing of containers at the Dar es Salaam Port as Central Corridor Transport Observatory (CCTTFA) Annual Report latest report shows. Its annual report reveals that the indicators of effectiveness and productivity are generated to determine how productive the port can be; for instance how does the container stay at the port (dwell time), not only that but also that the indicator category helps to measure the efficiency of the port as well. According to the report, the average release time from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) calculated from a time difference, from when a declaration custom agent to when a release order is issued by customs, keeps decreasing for the year 2015 from 51.6 average hours in May to 49.6 hours to December which is an improvement of the customs processing unit. On the ship turnaround time it refers to the total time spent by a ship in the port and it is measured by the average of the time in days per ship from time a ship enters the port area to the time it exits the port area. The report further explained that normally, it comprises the ship waiting time (time when the vessel is being offloaded or loaded with cargo), however, the ship waiting time is normally a small proportion of the turnaround time. Therefore to...