Efforts to eliminate non-tariff barriers have saved transporters and logistics stakeholders along the Mombasa-Kigali route nearly $7 million (about Rwf5 billion) since 2011. The estimates are drawn from a recently conducted evaluation by Trade Mark East Africa of the impact of non-tariff barriers (NTB) to trade programmes in East Africa. The survey’s findings indicate that removal of key NTBs have contributed to a 14 per cent reduction in time taken to import goods from each East African country and further contributed to a 20 per cent reduction in time taken to export goods from each EAC country from 33 days to 26 days. Rwanda’s trade has been among the top beneficiaries from the efforts to remove the barriers hindering trade in the region. The survey found that transit time as well as cost has significantly gone down consequently reducing the cost of business. “NTBs reduction has contributed to the reduction in cost of transporting a 40 foot container from Mombasa to Kigali, from $6,500 in 2011 to $4,800. Evaluators estimate this generated a saving (at constant volumes) of about $7 million (about Rwf5.4 billion) on the Mombasa-Kigali route alone. Similarly, inland transportation times from Dar es Salaam to Kigali have dropped considerably, now to 3.5 days,” the report reads in part. The development is largely credited to an EAC programme on elimination of identified NTBs supported by Trade Mark East Africa. The programme has so far identified 112 barriers and resolved 87 of them. The survey also established that a...

KAMPALA Uganda (Xinhua) -- Ministers from the East African Community (EAC) are meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala to discuss key projects that will fast track regional development and mutual security. The ministers, who are meeting in their 13th Northern Corridor Integration Projects summit that opened on Friday, will discuss and review progress made in the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway, mutual defense, peace and security, and airspace management. They will also discuss information communications technology, oil refinery development, power generation, transmission and interconnectivity and political federation. Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s foreign minister told the meeting that progress has been made in the areas of infrastructure development, data management, cyber security and human resources development. "We require attention in land acquisition and concerted efforts to speed up the reintegration projects," Kutesa said. The ministers after their meeting will send their report to the regional leaders meeting that will open on Saturday. The Northern Corridor summits started in 2013 with the aim of speeding up development in the region. The Northern Corridor is the transport corridor that links the EAC landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan with the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa. The corridor also serves northern Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. Source: Coast Week

South Sudan became the youngest, and sixth member of the East African Community (EAC), when it’s President, Salva Kiir Mayardit signed the accession treaty and requisite protocols in Dar es Salaam, at an event witnessed by the current EAC Chair, Tanzania’s new reformist president, John Pombe Magufuli on Friday April 16, 2016. This event was poignant in history and meaning for the region. South Sudan has had a chequered, albeit conflict-prone history prior to gaining independence in July 2011 after voting in a referendum to secede from the Sudan. Its independence has been wracked by a war that started in December 2013, and that has killed at least 50,000 people and displaced two million people according to aid sources. However, there is a silver lining all this as the cessation of hostilities brokered by IGAD last year is getting traction and it is expected that it will transition to a government of national unity this week after the negotiated settlement between the two protagonists, President Kiir and Dr Riek Machar. Stakes are high but regional leaders are optimistic that the two leaders will respect the terms of the agreement and work together towards bringing the benefits of the ideals of the EAC, and the benefits of regional integration to the long-suffering South Sudanese people. What are the benefits of South Sudan joining the EAC? These are many and varied, and whereas its parliament has to ratify the EAC Treaty and protocols, which, understandably, may take time as this is a...

Kenya will go it alone in the construction of a crude oil pipeline that will terminate at the Lamu Port, it was officially announced today. The decision, reached by President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Yoweri Museveni, was announced at the end of the 13th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit held in Kampala. Kenya will embark on the construction of the Lamu-Lokichar pipeline while Uganda will build the other pipeline through its southern borders. The decision comes after Kenya abandoned negotiations with Uganda for a single pipeline project, because the talks dragged on for long and had paralysed preparations for the construction of Kenya’s oil pipeline. Kenya and Uganda have however agreed to continue cooperating on petroleum issues since both countries are new in the industry. In a communique read at the end of the Summit, the leaders also pointed out that the integration projects have made significant strides with the Kenya section of the Standard Gauge Railway being the best example. Construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR section has now reached 75 percent and is expected to be completed by 2017. A commercial contract and financing agreement for the Nairobi-Naivasha SGR section has been signed and construction expected to begin by September. Ready by June 2016 Kenya has also signed a commercial agreement with China Communication Construction Company for the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba sections and construction of a modern port at Kisumu and the Kenya Government is currently sourcing funding. On the Uganda part of the SGR, preparations are at advanced stages and...

The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has been advised to relax its taxation regime in order to woo clients, amid declining cargo volumes at the Dar es Salaam port, a trend that has been linked to unfriendly tax policies. Members of the Parliamentary Infrastructure Development Committee said a bad tax regime had forced customers to look for alternative ports for imports and exports. The committee’s chairman, Norman Sigalla, said that the volume of transit cargo at the Dar es Salaam port had declined due to value added tax (VAT), driving importers and exporters from neighbouring states to Kenyan, Mozambican and South African ports. “VAT is a key factor scaring away port users as it inflates the costs of clearing the cargo,” said Prof Sigalla. As a result, importers had switched to the ports of Durban in South Africa, Beira in Mozambique and Mombasa in Kenya. Double taxation The committee also advised the government to eliminate double taxation for cargo storage, citing the storage rent charged by the TPA and a similar warehouse rent imposed by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) for the same cargo. The MPs also recommended that authorities at the port extend the maximum period of stay free of charge at the port for imported oil from 30 days to 90 days in line with rival ports. Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo rely on the Dar port for their imports and export trade. The port handled 12.54 million tonnes of cargo in...

Uganda has chosen the Tanzania route as the best option to export its crude oil from Hoima, given approving scientific reasons put forward by technical teams in Kampala. Tanzania’s Minister of Energy and Minerals Prof Sospeter Muhongo was quoted by government-owned newspaper Daily News saying that the Energy ministers of Tanzania and Uganda had agreed on a recommendation that favours the Tanzanian route. Tanzania and Kenya have been competing to host the pipeline on their territories, with Kenya lobbying for the Hoima-Lokichar-Lamu port route while Tanzania pushed for the Kagera-Shinyanga-Tabora-Singida-Tanga port route. Although the final decision was expected to be made after the Summit of Heads of States of Northern Corridor in Kampala this weekend, there are reports that the pipeline issue is not on the agenda. According to media reports in Tanzania, Prof Muhongo and his Ugandan counterpart Irene Muloni favour Tanga port as the ideal route and they will advise their presidents who would them make the final decision. Prof Muloni said Tanga port has a competitive advantage over other ports in East Africa because it will make it cheaper and easier for Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo to use the pipeline. Discussions on the pipeline route are unlikely to be featured in discussions by the presidents as they meet in Kampala this Saturday under the auspices of the 13th Northern Corridor Infrastructure Summit. The EastAfrican has learnt that the pipeline is not a key issue on the agenda for the Heads of...

After signing the East African Community Treaty on Accession on April 15, South Sudan now has three years to implement the Treaty in order to become a full member of the economic bloc. According to a report on ‘South Sudan’s Accession to the EAC,’ Juba has to align its laws and policies on monetary issues, free movement of labour, capital and people with those of the EAC before becoming a full member. This will be done progressively to allow South Sudan to build the relevant capacity and strengthen its institutions. Within the first 12 months, Juba committed itself to enacting all the relevant legislations to give effect to the Treaty. The South Sudanese parliament will then ratify the Treaty of Accession by enacting relevant legislation to give it effect. The South Sudanese lawmakers will be tasked with harmonising the relevant laws and policies with those of the EAC and ensuring enforcement. “This calls for a public awareness campaign by the government to build political consensus,” reads the report. South Sudan signed the EAC Treaty on April 15 following approval of its application to join the community by the EAC Heads of State Summit in Tanzania earlier this year. South Sudan becomes the sixth member of the economic bloc, joining Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Within the three years after accession, Juba must prepare for implementation of the Common Market Protocol, including implementing the Common External Tariff and other key provisions of the Protocol such as the freedom of movement...

Burundi has said it is ready for East African Community-mediated dialogue in efforts to end the current political crisis that has rocked the country for a year now. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni remains the EAC-appointed mediator for the inter-Burundi dialogue, but early this year, the EAC Heads of State Summit appointed a team under the leadership of former president of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa to facilitate the mediation. “Former president Mkapa’s visit enabled him to assess the situation on the ground and we are ready to restart the dialogue under his mediation,” Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Nyamitwe told The EastAfrican. However, the government said it would not hold talks with opposition leaders or civil society organisations that played a role in violent protests and the failed coup last year. US special envoy for the Great Lakes Region Thomas Perriello blamed the government for the current crisis, during his seventh visit to the country since the crisis began last year. “Mr Perriello is not the facilitator and it is not up to him to say who should join and who shouldn’t… we believe things are improving and we are waiting for the facilitator to restart the talks,” said Mr Nyamitwe in response to the accusations. Currently, there is relative calm in the country since the crisis began, but the government said 46 people have been killed since January in ongoing targeted assignations and grenade attacks, which it accused the opposition of instigating. According to Bujumbura at least 698 people have been arrested...

East African countries have drafted a policy framework to harmonise their retirement benefits schemes that will see workers in the region receive part of their life savings on a regular basis before they retire from formal employment. Under the proposed plan, EAC citizens will also benefit from annuitized pension from companies they had worked for outside their countries but within the EAC regional bloc. According to Kenya’s Ministry of EAC Affairs, the draft EAC retirement benefits policy will be reviewed by the Council of Ministers during the Sectoral Council on Finance and Economic Affairs meeting in Dar es Salaam next month. The policy considers a number of pertinent issues necessary for the development and growth of the pensions sector in the region with a view to facilitating free movement of persons, services, goods and capital. It also seeks to promote prudent investment of retirement funds to promote prosperity and improve the welfare of the people of the EAC region. Among key issues under consideration by the regional bloc through the Capital Markets Insurance and Pension Committee are harmonisation of pension tax regimes to facilitate portability of accrued pension benefits across the EAC region and development of an annuity market in the region. Others are mutual recognition agreement on pension service providers that will allow them to set up offices across borders, increased pension coverage for both formal and the informal sector in the region, liberalisation of the pension sector to attract more players and synchronisation of investment principles and standards...

The recently conducted independent evaluation of the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) indicates that most barriers have been eliminated to ensure traders across the region reap the benefits of the trading bloc. Non-tariff barriers refer to restrictive measures such levies, quotas, embargoes and sanctions used by countries when trading with each other. According to TMA, of the 112 NTBs that were identified, 87 have been resolved through the East African Community Time Bound Programme on elimination of barriers. This was as a result of intervention by the National Monitoring Committee and the EAC Secretariat, with the support of TMA, which led to the enactment of EAC elimination of NTBs Act. As a result, the time taken to import goods from one East African country to another has dropped by 14 per cent to 31 days. Initially, it used to take an average of 36 days. Burundi has benefited most, with a 28 per cent reduction in import time from 43 days to 30. Time taken The time taken to export goods to any East African country has been cut to an average of 26 days. This is a 20 per cent reduction from the initial 33 days. It now takes 30 days to export goods from Uganda as compared to 35 days in 2011. Similarly, inland transportation times from Dar es Salaam to Kigali have dropped to about 3.5 days. The time spent to get an electronic certificate to clear goods has also reduced. Tanzania has witnessed the highest drop. It now...