There was much excitement in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, in the week leading up to the convening of the World Economic Forum for Africa recently. As with past meetings of this magnitude, the government of Rwanda left nothing to chance. Its remarkable mobilisation capacity was deployed to get everyone with a role to play during the preparations to do their bit and do it well. Under normal circumstances officials and public servants here work like there is no tomorrow. It gets worse when big events that require special attention are in the offing. Contacts I was running after for bits of information about this and that and who from one to the next pleaded inability to see me, summed up what was going on. The most common response to appointment requests were, “I really can’t do anything this week.” A friend working for a major government agency wasn’t exaggerating when he said it was no use trying to set up a coffee appointment before the WEF was over, “because I am not able to think about anything else right now”. It mattered not whether I was talking to a public servant, a politician, or a member of the local business community. They were all “busy with WEF.” What on earth were they doing, I wondered. In public, there was not much activity in evidence. And there were no reports in the media about this or that critically important aspect of the preparations lagging hopelessly behind schedule. Everything seemed to be in...

Rwanda is missing out on over $170 million per year from exports of finished leather products for not having factories that process hides and skins into fine leather. But this is not unique to Rwanda. According to participants at the recent meeting of Comesa Leather and Leather Products Institute, the East African Community has continued to under-exploit its leather industry despite increasing local demand for leather products. With a population of over 169 million people, says the institute, the region has a demand for leather footwear standing at 126 million pairs per year. However, local production of footwear remains negligible and of poor quality – but even combined with imported footwear, a deficit of over 70 million pairs remains. “Across the region, there is unavailability of adequate skills and knowledge, unsupportive operational environment and law standards in branding locally produced leather products,” Prof Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, executive director of Comesa LLPI, told The EastAfrican. Experts also say that Rwanda should pick lessons from its neighbours, particularly Kenya, which currently boasts a more advanced leather sector with 15 tanneries and over 100 SME’s dealing with footwear and leather goods manufacturing. “The learning point from Kenya could include understanding the market stratification, product development, SMEs operationalisation, value and supply chain management and existing support service such as research and development including their extension service designed for the leather sector,” Prof Mwinyihija said. Stiff regional competition led to the closure of Rwanda Leather Industry Ltd in 2009, which had produced wet blue skins since...

Come July, exporters in East Africa will pay more, when a new requirement on weighing and verifying containers is implemented globally. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is making verification of weights a condition for loading packed export containers aboard ships to conform to amended changes to Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention. Safety is a driver of change as each year over 135 million containers enter the global supply chain, but many lack accurate weight estimates, contributing to costly shipping accidents. The Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) said SOLAS changes aim to curb under-declaring weight of cargo that can lead to shipwrecks, destruction of goods and pollution if hazardous cargo spills into the sea. The global rule for shippers to provide verified gross mass (VGM) for every packed container complete with correct documentation targeting enhanced safety is expected to increase cost of operations with consumers bearing the brunt. A container without VGM will not be loaded on a ship from July 1. A shipper sending goods will be responsible for proper verified weighing of packed container and documentation for cargo to be loaded on a vessel. Any container exceeding maximum gross mass will not be loaded to a ship. KMA acting director-general Cosmas Cherop said a container leaving a port will have a document signed either electronically or in hard copy by the shipper on bill of lading. Shippers will make the information available in advance to the port and the shipping line. The first method of obtaining VGM entails...

Regional inflation rates could spike in the medium term following the sustained rebound of the price of crude oil in the international market, where it has risen from a low of $29 early this year to the current $47 per barrel. Rwanda recorded a rise in its April inflation rate to 4.6 per cent, up from 4.1 per cent a month earlier, which it blamed on rising energy and transport costs. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have also recorded an increase in fuel prices in the past month. The three countries saw their inflation drop in April, with Kenya’s year-on-year inflation dropping to 5.27 per cent in April, from 6.45 per cent a month earlier. Uganda’s inflation dropped to 5.1 per cent in April from 6.2 per cent in March, while Tanzania saw its April inflation decrease to 5.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent a month earlier. Rwanda’s central bank (BNR) said the country’s inflation levels experienced pressure as a result of increased transport prices after the recovery in global oil prices. Rwanda’s monthly inflation rate rose by 0.8 per cent in April, while its food prices rose by 5.6 per cent. The annual inflation rate for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 3.9 per cent while that for transport rose by 7.6 per cent. Last week, Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry announced an increase in the petrol pump price from Rwf826 ($1.05) to Rwf860 ($1.09) per litre, making it the highest in the region. “The...

Global trade and investment rules will top the agenda for the upcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) XIV to be held in Nairobi in two months. The meeting themed “Translating Agenda 2030 Decisions into Actions”, will take place from July 17-22 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre. “This is the first Unctad conference after the adoption of Agenda 2030 and sustainable development goals in September 2015. It will, therefore, seek to operationalise the synergies that exist between various outcomes, including the 10th World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference, COP21 on Climate Change, as well as the International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, last year,” says a brief of the agenda for the conference seen by the Nation. The forum will coincide with a world leaders’ summit, which will see Heads of State and government hold “frank exchange of views with the business leaders on the vision for investment in the context of sustainable development,” according to the note. Over 250 heads of delegation, 4,000 government delegates and 2,000 business and civil society representatives are expected to attend the multi-stakeholder conference from 194 United Nations member countries. “It is expected the conference will provide an opportunity to dialogue on the balance between trade-rule making process and investment regulations,” explains the brief. KENYA'S PROFILE Besides the trade agenda, Nairobi believes the conference will reinforce Kenya’s high profile standing within the United Nations as an active member and contributor to the international economic order. “It will cement Kenya’s position...

A trade forum between Rwanda and Tanzania is set to kick off Friday in Kigali, Rwanda, as the two East African nations look to strengthen bilateral ties in a new chapter of warming diplomatic relations. The joint summit, dubbed “Tanzania-Rwanda Trade Forum 2016,” is the first of its kind and is expected to draw hundreds of key business players and government officials from both countries, according to Rwandan newspaper the New Times. Tanzania’s relations with Rwanda soured in 2013 following a disagreement between the two administrations. Tanzania’s then-President Jakaya Kikwete had urged Rwandan President Paul Kagame to hold talks with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in an effort to bring peace to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The comment drew fierce criticism from Rwanda, where negotiation with the Congo-based Hutu rebel group is seen as forbidden, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, trade between the two countries has reportedly fallen from $105 million in 2013 to $68 million last year. "Our relations appear to have been shaken following my advice to the Rwandan government to seek dialogue with their enemies," Kikwete reportedly said at the time. "I would like to assure our brothers and sisters in Rwanda that nothing has changed nor diminished from us in our relations and cooperation.” But since the November inauguration of Tanzanian President John Magufuli, the two governments have made significant steps toward improving bilateral relations. Kagame attended the swearing-in ceremony in Dar es Salaam port, and Magufuli returned the favor by visiting Kigali last...

Innovators and entrepreneurs in the logistics and transport sector across the East African Community have a chance to acquire part of $16 million grant-based fund under the second phase of the logistics Innovation for Trade (LIFT) Challenge Fund. The TradeMark Africa initiative will provide grants ranging from $150,000 to $1 million to winning proposals from innovators across the world, whose project ideas will be implemented in East Africa. The organisation has already called for entries from qualifying sector player. The LIFT initiative is managed by Nathan Associates through a fund management team based in Nairobi, and is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). It seeks to trigger and introduce innovative approaches to tackling freight and transport costs in the East African Community (EAC). TradeMark Africa chief executive Officer Frank Matsaert urged innovators to apply for funding, saying the challenge had enabled stakeholders to test new ideas that should reduce the cost and transport time in the EAC. "It is our hope that the entrepreneurs and innovators of the East African Community in partnership with their counterparts internationally will drive forward development through the adoption or introduction of 'best practice' technologies in the transport and logistics sector, enabling local businesses to compete favourably in the increasingly global economy," said Matsaert. Businesses in the transport and logistics sector, or those that provide services to actors within it, are now being invited to submit their innovative concepts to LIFT for possible funding. The LIFT Challenge Fund is open to businesses...

Kenya’s big vision for a ‘coalition of the willing (CoW)’ agreement with Uganda and Rwanda to build a major rail line and oil pipeline that would invigorate and open up East Africa’s economy may be going up in smoke as its partners look elsewhere for more economically pragmatic paths to achieve their goals. First it was Uganda. In March, East Africa’s third largest economy pulled the plug on a tentative agreement with Kenya for an oil pipeline deal. Desperate bids to save the deal fell through as Tanzania, the new ally in Uganda’s oil pipeline deal said it would expedite the process for a lot less less than the Kenyan route had been estimated. Then Rwanda did what took both Kenya and Uganda by surprise: opting out of the standard gauge railway (SGR)with the two partners, once ‘bosom friends’. In 2013, soon after Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta ascended to power, he marshaled Uganda and Rwanda into a ‘coalition of the willing’ arrangement in which they initiated a raft of infrastructure, telecommunication, defense and tourism-promotion projects in East Africa’s Northern Corridor. The Northern Corridor links Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and gives the two landlocked countries as well as the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan access to the sea through Kenya’s port city of Mombasa. In 2013, soon after Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta ascended to power, he marshaled Uganda and Rwanda into a ‘coalition of the willing’ arrangement in which they initiated a raft of infrastructure, telecommunication, defense and...

Dodoma — The government yesterday tabled a Sh4.8 trillion grand plan to improve infrastructure during the 2016/17 fiscal year, of which Sh700 billion will go towards the purchase of new aircraft and improvement of airports. This is in accordance with the budget estimates tabled yesterday by the minister for Works, Transportation and Communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa. The amount, which the minister asked the Parliament to approve as development allocation for his ministry, is equivalent to 46 per cent of the national development budget for next financial year pegged at Sh10.5 trillion. Prof Mbarawa asked the money for, among other things, the construction and rehabilitation or roads, railways, airports, ports, bridges, ferries, buying of new aircrafts for Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL and improvement of institutions under the ministry. The money will also be used in projects to decongest Dar es Salaam City through building of ring roads as well as a number of flyovers and construction of a new commuter railway in the country's commercial capital. Prof Mbarawa told the Parliament that Sh500 billion has been set aside in the next financial year for the purchase of new aircraft for the troubled ATCL. However, the minister could not specify the amount and types of aircraft to be purchased, saying this will be known after a thorough analysis to be conducted later. Part of the money will also be used to decongest Dar es Salaam City. Some of projects outlined in the budget speech as part of that plan include construction...

The Rwandan government has rejected claims that it was abandoning the Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway route in favour of the Dar-es-Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati Standard Gauge Railway. Media reports had earlier quoted Claver Gatete, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, as having said that Rwanda was opting out of the Kenyan route because the Tanzanian route was cheaper and shorter. “Rwanda is not pulling out of the Kenyan railway route. What I pointed out was that the Tanzanian route is shorter and slightly cheaper compared to the Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway. To suggest that Rwanda was pulling out of one railway route in favour of the other is simply misleading,” Gatete said in a statement sent to The New Times yesterday. Studies conducted by the East African Community (EAC) indicate that the Tanzanian railway route would cost Rwanda about US$800 to $900 million dollars, while the Kenyan one would cost US$1 billion. “We do not favour one route over the other because we see both the Northern and Central corridors as critical in cutting transport costs and facilitating trade to and from the ports of Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam,” added the minister. “We intend to have access to both routes by railway. Nothing has changed and that decision still holds.” In June 2013, the first infrastructure summit of the Heads of State of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, held in Kampala, agreed to construct a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) system linking Rwanda and Uganda to the port of Mombasa to enable faster socio-economic transformation...