Editor, We all know about that expression  when elephants fight. It was good to see the body language of President John Magufuli and his host President Uhuru Kenyatta. The visit by the Tanzanian leader will hopefully begin to squash those elements that want to divide the East African Community’s teo biggest economies. It is true that there are major differences between Kenya and Tanzania and I think most are a hangover from the 1960s and 1970s. But the EAC just cannot afford to have these two at loggerheads. Dar es Salaam port and Mombasa port are currently involved in fierce campaign to maintain and get new customers from the hinterland. This is good because it means management of both facilities will be constantly kept on their toes and customer service will keep rising. What I hope the two presidents agreed during their talks was that the EAC should not waste time and effort bickering amongst ourselves and instead look out for competitors outside the region. Integration is a great idea under the circumstances we are in. But the EAC’s competitive edge can only get sharper if we work closer together. Francis Thuo Nairobi, Kenya Source: Business Week

AGENDA: Nijimbere said increased investment in the regional pharmaceutical industry is critical after Ndegwa (third right) told participants on behalf of Kandie, regional manufacturers provide only 30% of the drugs sold in the market.   NAIROBI, KENYA - Regional pharmaceutical manufacturers government and United Nations agencies met last week to find ways of limiting dependence on imports of drugs and medicines that make up 70% of products sold in the East African Community (EAC) writes JOHN SAMBO. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for East African Community Integration, Labour and Social Protection, Phyllis Kandie said the pharmaceutical sector is a critical area of cooperation in health matters within the EAC. However its growth is being hampered because regional manufacturers are operating at a cost disadvantage due to their scale, expensive asset base coupled with out-dated technology, higher financing costs plus a lack of integration with active pharmaceutical ingredients suppliers. “This situation makes domestically manufactured medicines uncompetitive compared to imports and the regional pharmaceutical market is therefore dominated by imports with domestic manufacturers only meeting less than 30% of the medicines demand,” Kandie said in a speech read for her by Barrack Ndegwa, the Integration Secretary, in the Ministry. At the three-day conference were representatives from EAC Partner States including Ministries of Health, Finance and Industry, National Medicines Regulatory Agencies (NMRAs), National Procurement Agencies (NMPAs), AU-NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the private sector (local and...

By Christopher Majaliwa Dodoma — The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between East African Community (EAC) and European Union (EU) is 'a raw deal', a threeman independent team tasked to examine the trade deal has warned. Under the terms of the EPA, the EU will liberalise its market for EAC goods by 100 per cent while EAC member states will liberalise their market by 82.6 per cent on a progressive basis over period of 25 years after signature.  If signed and ratified, the team hinted that it 'will be a kissing goodbye to the country's industrialisation vision'. Speaking yesterday during an awareness seminar for Members of Parliament, a University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Lecturer, Professor Palamagamba Kabudi, cautioned that the deal is only meant to under-develop Africa. He pointed out that the trade deal, which among others, prevents instituting new export duties and taxes, will make the country lose sovereignty right to negotiate on business. The don said though other countries in the EAC bloc have signed the deal, Tanzania should not rush into endorsing the agreement for it will badly affect the economy. "It is a bad deal. I don't advise the country to sign. Our economy will suffer," he cautioned, hinting that African products cannot compete with those from Europe. Another expert, Dr John Jingu, analysed that through the agreement, the EAC will have to commit to liberalising close to 82.6 per cent of all its imports for the EU by 2033. He argued that through this commitment,...

MORE COMMITMENT: Eriyo said progress is being made in some areas but all EAC Partner States remain largely non-compliant in their services trade liberalization commitments. KAMPALA, UGANDA - Partner states of the East African Community (EAC) are slow to open up their domestic markets and non-tariff barriers continue pose a problem, especially the liberalisation of services across the region.  The second EAC Common Market Scorecard (CMS) 2016 which evaluates implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol was launched last week in Kampala by the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration, Jesca Eriyo. Scorecard 2016, measures Partner States’ compliance to the free movement of capital, services, and goods and was developed by the World Bank Group together with TradeMark Africa (TMA) at the request of the EAC Secretariat. The Scorecard was developed over a period of 18 months under the supervision of the EAC Secretariat and Partner States. The areas of capital, services and goods were selected for scoping as they are fundamental to the operations of the Common Market. Eriyo said, “A number of reforms have been undertaken since the 2014 CMS.  These have brought the total number of non-conforming measures (NCMs) down from 63 in 2014 to 59 in 2016.  While this shows progress it should be noted that all EAC Partner States remain largely non-compliant in their services trade liberalization commitments.” Commenting on the latest results, Eriyo said the Scorecard is well aligned with the EAC’s implementation priorities. “It fosters peer learning and facilitate...

Dodoma — The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (EAC) cannot be beneficial to Tanzania's economy, three scholars commissioned to analyse the agreement have warned. The scholars, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, Dr Ng'waza Kamatta and Dr John Jingu, all from the University of Dar es Salaam, cautioned MPs during an awareness seminar held here yesterday that if the country is going to sign and ratify the deal then that would be the beginning of an end to Tanzania's industrialisation vision. The legislators are scheduled to advise the government on the way forward with regard to the EPA on Thursday, and the experts were commissioned by the ministry of Industries, Trade and Investment to enlighten the MPs on the content and implications of the deal in the Tanzanian context. Kenya and Rwanda have already signed the deal but it won't be operational until all the East African Community member states sign the agreement which is protested by Tanzania. EAC Heads of State led by their chairman President John Magufuli agreed in September to push for the bloc's commitment on the deal to January next year to allow more deliberations and negotiations on the matter. Prof Kabudi pointed out that even though two countries in the EAC bloc have signed the deal, Tanzania shouldn't rush into ratifying the agreement since it would have devastating effects on its economy. He noted that the deal, which is against instituting new export duties and taxes will deprive Tanzania's...

Uganda recorded US$97M in new trade between 2014/2016, as a result of reduced trade costs contributed to by TMA supported interventions Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Customs modernization programme has contributed to the institutions increase in revenue collection by 48 per cent as of June 2015 with customs processing time reducing significantly by 30 per cent – from 120 hours to 84 hours. Average time to test products by Uganda National Bureau of Standards has reduced from 19 days to 8 days – a 58 % drop Cost of testing also recorded a 71 per cent drop from $350 - $100  Kampala, November 4th, 2016: Aid for Trade organisation, TradeMark Africa, programmes in Uganda have contributed to inducing additional trade of US$97 Million since 2014, with US$ 50Million achieved in 2015/2016.  The elimination of non-tariff barriers, upgrading of customs systems and custom reforms, improvement of testing by National Bureau of Standards have significantly reduced the cost and time of doing business in Uganda, a newly released TradeMark Africa (TMA) independent evaluation report shows. The report by consulting firm Market Share says the organisation is on track to achieving its target of reducing time it takes to transit a container through East Africas’ main transport corridors. TMA made the announcement during the launch of the Uganda Electronic Single Window in Kampala. TMA aims to reduce by 15%, the time it takes to export or import a container from Mombasa to Kigali.   According to the report, the evaluated TMA Uganda programmes have so...

The decision by Tanzania to cut work permit fees for residents of East African Community member states is laudable. Though Dar es Salaam ignored calls to scrap work permit fees totally, the recent move goes to show that engagement can yield fruits. It slashed the work permit fee for EAC residents from Sh303,000 ($3,000) to Sh51,500 ($1,500) and  residence permit fees to Sh50,000 ($500) from Sh202,000 ($2,000). This followed Tanzanian President John Magufuli’s visit to Kenya last week. The new fees will apply to employees from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan. As such, more frequent consultations ought to be encouraged so as to make the dream of an East African integration achievable. With EAC members pulling from different sides, the goal of creating a barrier-free trade bloc has continued to evade the citizens. This single act by Tanzania is, however, not enough. There are still many more barriers that must be surmounted. When the East African Common Market Protocol was ratified in 2010, the key goal was to provide for free movement  of workers in the region. Though Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have waived the work permit fees, Tanzania and Burundi are yet to ratify the agreement. We urge all East African leaders to ensure that the dream of a borderless bloc is attained by allowing free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Source: Business Daily Africa

A group of Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) are in the country on an outreach and sensitization mission. They have visited several borders to assess problems that hinder cross-border trade and travel and acquaint the border communities with East African Community (EAC) issues. While all border posts have their own unique problems, the Nemba One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) with Burundi’s concerns are mainly security issues since trade has come to a near standstill. But the vibrant and busy borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda are more concerned with trade and how the OSBP can be more beneficial. Most have been advocating for cross-border markets and the government and some of its partners such as Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) have taken heed. Streamlining trading issues will only enhance better cooperation and understanding among border communities. It will also improve the welfare of women as they dominate cross-border trade. So it comes as welcome news that TMA has a particular soft spot for women and has designed special programmes to empower them. But empowering one side of the border alone will not bring many benefits. TMA should duplicate what it is doing for Rwandan women across the other side of the borders of EAC member states. Just as Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are marketing the country as a single tourist destination at this year’s London Expo, there is more strength in unity. A people who move in tandem are likely to travel further...

The report, conducted on behalf of TMA by a consulting firm says the organization is on track to achieving its target of reducing time taken for goods in transit through East Africas' main transport corridors. The elimination of non-tariff barriers, upgrading of customs systems and custom reforms, improvement of testing by National Bureau of Standards have reduced the cost and time of doing business in Uganda. This is according to an independent evaluation report that was released by TradeMark Africa (TMA). TMA aims at helping traders reduce by 15%, the time taken for a container when being imported or exported from Mombasa to Kigali. The report, conducted on behalf of TMA by a consulting firm says the organization is on track to achieving its target of reducing time taken for goods in transit through East Africas' main transport corridors. The announcement was made during the launch of the Uganda Electronic Single Window in Kampala on Friday. Evaluators added that trade programs supported by TMA have reduced trade costs; inducing US$97M in new trade deals between the financial year 2014/2016. Interventions at the Uganda Bureau of Standards have led to a reduction of the average time it takes to test selected products from 19 to 8 days, with the cost of testing products reducing by 71 % ,in terms of money, a reduction  in testing costs from $350 - $100. Due to improvement in customs services, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) recorded an increase in revenue collection by 48 per cent as...

Tanzania’s recent move to cut resident permit fees for residents of the East African Community bloc (EAC) has been described as a good gesture. The country’s Ministry of Home Affairs reduced by half, to $500 for the A-4 category resident permit for small-scale traders, businesses, artisans, fishing, farming or any legally recognised activity. The permits are for renewal every two years. Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) commended the gesture from Tanzania but added that East Africa’s largest nation should now scrap the fees altogether. Martin Ngoga said: “It is a good development and marks good progress towards approximation of our laws in the EAC. It is a boost towards enjoyment of the freedoms provided by the common market protocol. We certainly still have a lot to do in that direction and, in so doing, we need to appreciate every step we make along the way. Some partner states waived, totally, these fees.” The Assembly has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the lack of harmonisation and approximation of national laws in the region, which they say negatively affects cross-border business, and the integration agenda. MP Straton Ndikuryayo, a member of EALA’s standing Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment (CTI), noted that Tanzania’s President John Magufuli made a commendable step. “The reduction of the amount by 50 percent is a big step in line with facilitating free movement of people, capital, and goods. However, my wish is to see a total waiver of work or resident permit for...