ARUSHA, Tanzania, 23 February 2016 / PRN Africa / — The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, received credentials from the Belgian and European Union Ambassadors who have been accredited to the East African Community. While presenting his credentials to Dr. Sezibera, Belgian Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Paul Cartier, said his country was keen on strengthening her relations with the Community. Amb. Cartier said Belgium wants to be part of the solution to various challenges facing the EAC. In his remarks, Amb. Dr Sezibera thanked the Belgian government for her offer of additional support to the EAC, adding that a framework of agreement for cooperation will be developed between Belgium and the Community. The Secretary General hailed Belgium for her contribution to the Partnership Fund, which has enabled the EAC to undertake programmes and projects in various sectors. The Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and to the EAC, H.E. Mr. Roeland van de Geer, also presented his credentials to the Secretary General. Amb. van de Geer noted that the EU's assistance to the EAC was broad covering almost all sectors of the integration agenda, reaffirming that the EU would continue providing this support. He urged the EAC to identify and prioritize the areas in which it would require increased support from the EU. Amb. Sezibera and Amb. van de Geer agreed to hold bilateral talks to re-examine the cooperation framework between the EAC and the EU with the goal of...

The instability of Burundi, the East African country fighting poverty and political crisis, has an impact on the business activities of the East Africa Community (EAC), which has tried to promote the whole region as one destination to boost tourism in East Africa. According to the chairman of the Burundi Chamber of Hotels and Tourism, Dennis Nshimiyimana, the situation in Burundi hurts regional tourism. While some hoteliers in Bujumbura, Burundi’s capital, closed down their facilities, others died violently, and still others ran away from the country. Mr. Nshimiyimana seeks support of the East African Tourism Platform (EATP) as well as the region in order to reestablish peace and resume business activities. With the shutting down of the Akilah Institute for Women, there is no university to provide education in the field of tourism and impart the required skills to people. As the hotel capacity in Burundi has come down, more investment has also become essential, according to Nshimiyimana.  The tourism activities in the country remain paralyzed because of the political instability. The turmoil in Burundi started in April 2015 following the announcement by the National Council for Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy that the ruling party’s Pierre Nkurunziza, currently the president, would contest for his third term in office. Amidst opposition, Nkurunziza won the elections in July, which resulted in violent protests and political crisis. Up to now, more than 500 people died and as many as 230,000 left the country. In Rwanda alone, there are as...

TradeMark Africa (TMA), a donor-supported organization formed to facilitate cross-border business in the region, has expressed worry that while they have supported the modernization of ports in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, trade volumes are still below expectations. TMA seeks to facilitate the East African Community (EAC) with $2.5m to increase intraregional trade to 25 per cent from the current 20 per cent, and grow exports outside the region by at least 10 per cent in the medium term. TMA says the $2.5m (nearly 8.5bn) towards the region will improve export capacities and private sector competiveness. Most of Uganda’s imports come through Mombasa.  However, TMA says some EAC member states have not fully reached consensus on specific product standards, which has made it difficult for some of the proposed regional trade policies to impact on traders’ operations. Speaking during a meeting with private sector stakeholders at Sheraton hotel in Kampala recently, Allen Asiimwe, the country director TMA Uganda, said growth prospects of the East African Community remained low. She said the region needed to improve its exports position by enhancing regional ties through increasing the private sector’s capacity. “…what we have recognized over time is that these reforms, on their own [for example] improving the road network, IT [information Technology], and customs management don’t translate into increased trade or exports,” she said.  “We continue to see that the ports [both Mombasa and Dar el salaam] are improving; goods are coming in. But we do not see a similar level of...

KIGALI (Xinhua) -- Rwanda’s exports to East African Community (EAC) countries recorded a slight drop in 2015, according to official data released here. The exports to EAC fell 10.3 percent to 127.8 million U.S. dollars, down from 142.4 million dollars in 2014, said the country’s Central Bank 2015 Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement. The statement, released by the National Bank of Rwanda (BRN), attributed the decline to falling international commodity prices and shrinking exports to Burundi."Due to ongoing conflicts in Burundi and the fall of international commodity prices led to decline in value of our exports but this doesn’t cause any alarm," John Rwangombwa, governor BNR told reporters shortly after presenting Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement. He noted that Rwanda imports from the EAC countries, which represent 22.4 percent of total imports, decreased 5 percent from 2015. EAC is made up of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. The drop in the country’s exports hinders Rwanda’s bid to increase exports and achieve its export promotion strategy. The small central African nation relies heavily on imports and it will be an uphill battle to bring down the trade deficit to manageable proportions without a strategy to increase the value of exports. Despite the fall in exports, Rwangombwa said the "positive side is that the country’s exports to EAC are diversified and most agricultural products." "The fall in export commodities will not deter the government’s efforts to increase the value of exports and boost competitiveness in the international market," he added....

TEA from Kenya and Rwanda fetched the highest prices at this week’s Mombasa tea auction, which recorded an increase in volumes. Kenya however trailed its East African peer in average auction price where Rwanda’s tea posted the highest average price of $2.66 (Sh270.84) across nine grades, beating seven other countries who offered their tea for sale. Kenyan tea was second with an average price of $2.51 (Sh255.57) followed by Burundian tea which sealed the top three slot in terms of prices with $2.48 (Sh252.51). Rwanda’s BP1 was the priciest with an average cost of $2.94 (Sh299.35) per kilo. Its PF1 sold at $2.75(Sh280) per kilo while PDust and Dust 1 sold at $2.64 (Sh268.81) and $ 2.81 (Sh286.12) a kilo respectively. Kenya’s BP1 sold at $2.81 (Sh286.12), PF1 was $2.59 (Sh263.71) while PDust and Dust1 cost $2.48 (Sh252.51) and $2.69 (Sh273.90) per kilo respectively. The overall auction average price remained at $2.39 (Sh243.35) for the second consecutive week after dropping from $2.42 (Sh246.41) per kilo two weeks ago. It however remains above the $2.29 (Sh233.17) recorded in a similar sale last year. The East Africa Tea Trade Association attributed Rwanda’s favorable prices to its low quantities.“Their volumes at the auction are low by far compared to Kenya so they are expected to perform better,” managing director Edward Mudibo told the Star on phone. Total volume of tea traded this week increased to 8.05 million kilos from 7.2 million kilos last week. “Yemen, other Middle Eastern countries, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kazakhstan and...

In October 2015, Nairobi hosted the 11th Heads of State Summit of the Northern Corridor Integration Project (NCIP). The meeting, attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan, was convened to review the progress of strategic regional infrastructure projects. The heads of state pushed for the implementation of the Northern Corridor Technology Alliance (NCTA) — a regional sector alliance formed to champion the implementation of key ICT projects within the NCIP. The NCTA was formally launched in Kigali on July 17, 2015 and consists of a 24-member steering committee, with six representatives from each partner country and a chief co-ordinator. NCTA aims to deliver earmarked ICT projects using local firms and expertise. In addition, it aims to ensure that all implemented projects generate enough revenue to repay the initial project capitalization costs. Partner countries could assign projects to local companies before the end of 2016. Under the MoU signed by the private sector apex bodies in partner states, various firms in these countries will have the opportunity to compete for more than $500 million worth of tech projects available for implementation under a public private partnership. Currently, e-Soko trading platforms have already been earmarked for implementation by Kenya. Similarly, e-Learning (knowledge management) has been allocated to Uganda while e-Immigration has been assigned to Rwanda. NCTA’s proposed structures include a board and a secretariat, with members drawn from all the partner states. In addition, NCTA will also adopt its own project management and quality control mechanisms to vet...

East African countries are dragging their feet on tax harmonisation because of concerns about tax sovereignty, failure to agree on a common excise policy, fear of losing revenue, and the difficulty of converging excise rates, given the differences in per capita income. A study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the impact of EAC excise tax harmonisation recommends that in order to move faster on the matter, the EAC partners need to focus on key areas including procedures and administration, classification rules and definitions and remission schemes. Rajesh Shah, senior tax partner at PwC, said tax harmonisation need not necessarily result in the same tax rates and laws, but in processes that will enable the EAC partner states to eliminate barriers that hamper the free movement of goods, services and capital, and promote investment within the region. These freedoms are provided for in the EAC Treaty and Common Market Protocol. “We need common warehousing procedures, declaration and documentation for products destined for another partner state,” said Mr Shah. “This should only apply on products released for consumption and not consumed due to setbacks such as spoilage and expired products.” So far, only Customs duties have been harmonised by setting a common external tariff (CET) for imports into Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Building the foundation Although the EAC faces challenges such as illicit trade and wide disparities in rates and structures, it should be possible to build the foundation of a harmonised excise tax system and secure long term growth in...

The Cabinet has approved the development of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Dongo Kundu, Mombasa, targeting to boost job creation and regional trade. The facility will be developed as an industrial and commercial hub with potential for the creation of jobs for the youth, a dispatch from State House said. A blue print by the Industrialization ministry showed that the plan included the establishment a free-trade zone (FTZ) within the 1,326 hectares SEZ facility. “2018 is the target year for the launch of Mombasa SEZ at Dongo Kundu,” the ministry said in the document adding that it forecasts a population of 27,000 workers within the SEZ. The FTZ project will be established on a site of between 300-500 acres of land that is available to investors. It will host wholesale and retail trading, breaking bulk, re-packaging logistics, warehousing and handling and storage of goods among others. Unlike the current practice at Mombasa port, where all goods are subjected to slow customs procedure, a FTZ creates a haven where goods on transit face less strict customs regulations. The area will be reserved for re-exports to the 400 million-people Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (Comesa), allowing for transshipment of cargo without inspection or paying customs duty. Worldwide, FTZs are organised around major seaports, international airports and generally underdeveloped areas. Marginalised areas are often targeted for the FTZs because they attract investments which help address poverty. As a sweetener, corporations setting up in the zone may be given tax breaks....

The East African Community’s dream of having a common e-East African passport for the citizens of its five member states will soon come to reality. Initially scheduled for release in November 2015, the e-passport was delayed as pending issues were ironed out. But from March this year, citizens from the trading bloc will be able to access the EAC e-passport, allowing easy movement within the community-a mandate of the EAC integration process. Its introduction will also be a milestone towards achieving harmonization in the region. EAC states plan on having their citizens use the new generation document for global travel too. Owora Richard Othieno said that launching the international EAC e-passport is on the agenda of the upcoming 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit. The EAC senior communication official was speaking ahead of the Summit on Tuesday. The Summit is set for February 29 and will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers from February 22 to 27. Both will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The EAC trading bloc includes Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Source: Footprint to Africa

The East Africa Tea Traders Association (EATTA) is set to appoint an officer to lead in introducing an electronic trading platform for the weekly auction in Mombasa to increase transparency in dealings. Applications for the position closed Wednesday, paving the way for interviews and appointment that will mark a milestone in the way tea is traded. The association expects to begin automating the auction this year and complete the shift to the new platform by 2017 at an estimated cost of Sh133 million ($1.3 million) financed by Trade Mark East Africa. During a visit to the auction last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta urged members to speed up automation to boost transparency. “Automating your system will go a long way to dispel some of the perceptions that this is a house of collusion. People believe that you just come here to showcase, but the real deals are done at night,” he said. The auction in Mombasa handles tea from nine African nations, including Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique. Ethiopia is due to join in March. Kenya expects to earn Sh115-120 billion from its tea exports this year, depending on the exchange rate, after a 23 per cent rise to Sh125.25 billion year, the agriculture industry regulator said on Wednesday. The Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) said total output fell 10 per cent to 399.21 million kilos in 2015 but earnings rose due to a 38 per cent jump in the average auction price of tea to $2.98 (Sh303.96) per...