NAIROBI (HAN) January 30, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Kenya and Tanzania are among the top nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa preferred for investments in the logistics market over the next five years. However, substandard infrastructure, corruption, terrorism and poor linkages across the region could pose a challenge to the growth of the region’s logistics market. The Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index report, released last week, states that of the 1,200 supply chain and logistics executives interviewed worldwide, 15 per cent identified Kenya and 7.8 per cent chose Tanzania as their top preferred destinations in sub-Saharan Africa. The two countries were ranked at position three and six respectively. South Africa was ranked top and Nigeria second, with a 26 per cent and a 17.5 per cent potential respectively. The report shows that poor infrastructure, government instability and corruption remain the top risk factors in sub-Saharan Africa, according to 69.8 per cent of the respondents. Some 33.7 per cent cite poor infrastructure and the lack of physical connectedness as the main risk to supply chain operations in the region; 11.1 per cent cited terrorism as a hindrance, especially in the case of Kenya and Nigeria. Oil and gas discoveries, the growing middle class and mineral and resource demand were the top three reasons given by investors for their interest in Africa’s logistics’ market. Investors in the logistics industry said the challenges in the report are being addressed. The $3.27 billion standard gauge railway from Mombasa to Nairobi is...

As Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari rounded off his three-day visit to Kenya which began on Wednesday, January 27, indications emerged that the visit, Buhari’s first to the East African country since he was elected into office in March 2015, may soon begin to bear fruit in terms of creating momentum for increased trade and investment between the two countries. This indication came as delegates from both countries at the Kenya-Nigeria Business Forum in Nairobi on Friday discussed the possibility of a duty-free zone for the importing and exporting of goods between the two countries and regions in the hope of opening up trade in Africa. Kiprono Kittony, Chairman, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), said there had been an agreement to improve the data gathering in terms of the trade and investment going on between the two countries. 
“We would like to see that we have as much accurate information available to us so we can know whether the interaction at a higher level is being realized on a business to business frontier,” said Kittony, who also raised the issue of the ban list in Nigeria and how it limits the possibility for trade between the countries. Sani Dangote, Group Vice President, Dangote Industries Limited, however, said rather than focusing on the ban list, the focus should be on how to provide some bilateral agreement between the two countries to create some kind of duty-free zone whereby goods manufactured in Nigeria can come into Kenya duty-free and goods...

The Rwandan business community has identified trade barriers that it wants East African governments to remove in order for the country’s goods and services to be more competitive in the region. Currently Rwanda Air — the country’s national carrier — is restricted from picking up passengers in Kenya and Tanzania even though, in principle, the EAC airspace has been liberalized. “There is no free competition in the airline business in the East African Community; it’s the East African people who suffer,” said John Mirenge, the chief executive of Rwanda Air, at a breakfast meeting for the private sector and the Ministry of East African Affairs in Kigali. The 11th Northern Corridor Summit agreed to give regional airlines, like RwandAir and Kenya Airways, the “fifth freedom” of operating without limitation on the corridor. Under the deal, RwandAir and Kenya Airways ply the Entebbe-Nairobi and Entebbe-Kigali routes as local airlines. But Mr Mirenge said the agreement is only on paper. The second barrier is the additional costs that Rwandan mineral exporters incur while in Tanzania. When security lapses in Tanzania led to a number of containers being stolen in the country, mineral exporters hired private security guards from Rusumo to work at the Dar es Salaam port, leading to an increased cost of doing business. Mineral exporters say insurance firms, transporters and shippers compel them to provide security for their minerals. The cost of transporting a container of minerals from Kigali to Dar has risen by 271 per cent, from $3,500 to...

The regional business community has criticised the EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade Bill 2015, saying it needs extensive changes in order to be effective. The East African Business Council (EABC) has pointed out that elimination of NTBs is strictly dependent on the political will of the concerned parties, with no consequence for non-elimination and no restitution for aggrieved parties. To address this, EABC trade economist Adrian Njau proposes that the NTBs Act be taken back to the East African Legislative Assembly for amendment. Mr Njau argues that the Bill should provide for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, arbitration by the trade remedies committee and the ability to petition the East African Court of Justice. The Bill insists merely restates the existing mechanisms to resolve disputes on non-tariff barriers in the region such as mutual agreement of the concerned partner states; implementation of the EAC time bound programme for elimination of identified NTBs; and regulations, directives, decisions or recommendations of the council as provided for under Article 9 on elimination of NTBs despite its failure to resolve disputes for several years now. However, the extension in 2015 of the jurisdiction of the EACJ, to cover issues related to trade and commerce, provides another opportunity for arbitration of NTBs in the region. “The EAC NTBs Bill, 2015, should be taken back to EALA for amendments,” EABC acting executive director, Lilian Awinja told The EastAfrican. Tanzania is said to have already assented to the Bill, meaning that it has formally committed itself to a binding legislation to eliminate NTBs...

Considerable economic success in Rwanda and the larger bloc of the East African Community (EAC) is attractive for American investors and the US government is focused on supporting stronger partnerships between US investors and members of the private sector in Rwanda and the rest of the EAC. The message was delivered in Kigali, yesterday, by US Secretary for Commerce Penny Pritzker during a business roundtable at Village Urugwiro that brought together business leaders from the US business and East Africa. Pritzker, who led a delegation of 13 members of the US President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa and African CEOs, spoke highly of the economic achievements in Rwanda and EAC."Rwanda and the East African Community have a lot to offer US investors. East Africa is the most integrated and fastest-growing regional economic community in Africa," she said. She hailed Rwanda's efforts and success in facilitating businesses as well as the country's stable economic growth since 2000 - at an average of 8 per cent - and called for stronger ties between the country's traders and those from the US. "We are focused on steps the US government can take to support the establishment of stronger and lasting commercial partnerships between the US and the African private sectors, especially regions and countries where there have been considerable economic success and Rwanda is a prime example of this. From a commercial perspective, Rwanda's climb in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business is notable," she said. Under its Doing Business...

East African Community (EAC) member States will benefit from a Sh41 billion funding to fast-track three key areas critical to regional integration. The inter-governmental agreement concluded in Arusha between the German government and the regional bloc will support economic integration, regional health and water resource management over the next three years. The funding is as a result of realization that integration is still faced with key hurdles that need to be overcome despite available opportunities. Key challenges include inadequate and poor regional infrastructure network, water scarcity and difficulty in managing shared water resources, weak institutions and human capacity, insecurity and political instability. Other challenges are diversity across the economies and divergent country attitudes towards regional integration. Part of the funds (10 million euros) will be invested in the establishment of a regional network of reference laboratories for communicable diseases. Another 10 million euros will be used for integrated water resource management of Lake Victoria, aimed at improving water provision and management of water resources. Source: Media Max

Uganda has long enjoyed a well-earned reputation for co-operatives banking and commercialization of Agricultural Commodities and in recent years it has become a leading hub for commodities trade such as grains, cotton, coffee, cocoa and other soft commodities Following remarks by President Museveni about the added values on Cocoa product during his campaign in Bundibugyo, he was very optimistic about the development of Cocoa value chain as usual leaving out the challenge that Uganda cocoa low production cannot attract big investors from major importers. The total land area suitable for cocoa growing in Uganda is estimated to be 92,000 ha. However, according to the UBOS statistical abstract of 2011, the land area planted with cocoa is 21,198 ha of which 6,054 have mature productive cocoa plantation and 11,790 ha are covered by young cocoa planted under the strategic export innovations with estimated total country production of 28-30 thousand metric tonnes per year. Cocoa is grown in the sub- Saharan countries of west and eastern Africa that include DR Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Uganda. Uganda has long enjoyed a well-earned reputation for co-operatives banking and commercialisation of Agricultural Commodities and in recent years it has become a leading hub for commodities trade such as grains, cotton, coffee, cocoa  and other soft commodities in East Africa with over four hundred registered companies involved in this Agricultural global market. It has involved into being one of the world’s leading Agricultural crop producing places in East Africa, for other additional trading...

Uganda's earnings from fish exports continue to grow, but it is a long road ahead before the sector can enjoy a substantial share of the country's GDP as the coffee industry does, writes Brian Ssenoga.

In a bid to boost fish trade and personal incomes among women in Uganda, women fish farmers, processors, traders and scientists have formed an umbrella organization called the Women fish network Uganda, attracting more than 100 members. According to Elizabeth Ssempebwa, the chairperson and proprietor of Kiteezi mixed farm, the network was established to help women seize opportunities in the fisheries sector, which is dominated by men. “We are not here to compete with anybody; neither are we saying we shall just look on as opportunities pass by. But the fact is women have been left out yet if you observe carefully, fish trade is mainly dominated by women who at the same time are marginalized,” she told The Observer at the organisation’s offices at Lugogo last week. The organisation comes at a time when Uganda’s fish exports are declining in terms of volumes. According to a statistical abstract from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, dated October 2015, Uganda exported 17,597 tonnes of fish in 2014, down from the 20,087 tonnes in 2013. However, in terms of value, the figures were better. Fish exports fetched Uganda $134.7m in 2014, up from $126.7m in 2013. Such earnings managed to boost the sector’s significance as a percentage of Uganda’s gross domestic product. According to Ubos, fish export earnings...

NAIROBI: Kenya and Nigeria are seeking to establish a duty-free trade zone between the two countries. This comes following trade talks between Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta. Buhari, who is accompanied by more than three dozen business leaders and investors, winds up his three-day visit today with President Uhuru Kenyatta expected to visit Nigeria in six-months’ time. “We have agreed to have a unit in Kenya and Nigeria that will be concerned with facilitating all interactions concerning trade between these two countries,” said Mr Kiprono Kittony, the chairman of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI). In Kenya, the unit will be housed under the KNCCI’s Nigeria-Kenya business council and chaired by Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi while in Nigeria it will be chaired by Sani Dangote, brother of Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote and vice president of the Dangote Group. “We’ve identified several areas in agro-processing including cotton, tea, horticulture and dairy products that both Nigeria and Kenya can work together in expanding trade between the two countries,” said Mr Dangote. “East Africa is a market of about 150 million people and we have ECOWAS which is more than 350 million-strong and we want the Kenya-Nigeria business council to have its own office so that it can be dedicated to collecting data and facilitating interactions on this agenda,” he said. Kenya’s business community on the other hand expressed the need for policy makers in Nigeria to ease the cost of doing business...

Importers have protested closure of two Container Freight Stations (CFS) in Mombasa, saying the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) did not give them notice to clear their cargo. Association of Importers of Kenya (AIK) chairman Peter Mambembe said the closure of Autoport and Portside CFSs was unprocedural, and asked the taxman to immediately open the facilities so that importers could pick their goods. On Thursday morning, clearing agents and more than 600 workers found the gates secured with padlocks and seals. “How can the KRA shut down a CFS with thousands of containers destined for various locations including South Sudan?“It seems there are some forces that influenced this because even the KRA knows it is illegal,” said Mr Mambembe. Mr Kyalo Kaloki, an official of Logistics Link who claimed three of their vehicles were locked in the CFS, noted that they would incur huge expenses if they were not allowed to pick them. Receive cargo The closure follows a letter Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) sent to the stations’ management, notifying them that they would not be allowed to receive cargo from the port of Mombasa. “It has been decided that nomination of containers to your CFS be suspended with immediate effect,” managing director Gichiri Ndua said in the letter dated January 21, without giving reason for the action. The CFSs have not been receiving cargo despite an order issued by a Mombasa court instructing the KPA to continue sending cargo to the stations. The High Court in Mombasa issued the orders...