EAST Africa is seeking to galvanise synergies of textiles industry players by linking the local cotton, textile and apparels industry to the untapped markets in the region, 'Daily News' has learnt. The East African Business Council (EABC) Chief Executive Officer, Ms Lilian Awinja, explained here that the East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition would provide a platform for creating synergies and links between the local cotton and textile industries with local suppliers and fashion designers in a bid to propose an action plan outlining policies and modalities for promoting the sector's performance, productivity and quality. "It is a high time that EAC member countries embarked on manufacturing apparels such as inner garments, ties and scurfs that require low level technology and skills, as the region works on a phase out approach of imported second hand clothes. There is a huge opportunity for the African fashion and design industry to be in the spotlight on the international market," said Ms Awinja. The CEO noted that cotton production, processing and trade was highly influenced by policies of major producing countries, through price support, tariff protection, production subsidies and stock piling that destabilise cotton prices, and that competitiveness of the cotton industry in the East African Community (EAC) was faced with challenges such as low yields, ginning overcapacity, low ginning out-turn ratio and inefficient value addition. "Value addition in the cotton and textile Industry into innovative aesthetic accessories, interior designs and fashion can create more job opportunities in the stitched together...

Khartoum, apparently, had appealed to become member of the East African Community through an official application sent to Arusha back in November 2011, but the country was asked to hold on a bit, until South Sudan joined first, so that North Sudan could also have a common borderline with EAC member states. “North Sudan’s application was turned down because among the requirements for a country to become an affiliate state of the community, is for it to share a common border with any of the already existing members,” explained Mr Simon Owaka, the EAC Senior Public Relations Officer. “The Summit of EAC Heads of State rejected Sudan’s application because it failed largely to meet one criterion for the admission of a new partner state into the Community, namely, geographical proximity to and interdependence between the aspiring country and the partner states,” added Mr Owaka. He was responding to this paper’s question regarding what was next for Khartoum now that it was legible to join the East African Community. According to the official, since Khartoum now shares a border with the Republic of South Sudan (RSS), it qualifies to join the East African Community but North Sudan needs to apply afresh since the situation has just changed. But Mr Owaka remarked: “The requirement for geographical prox imity and other criteria notwithstanding, admission of a new country into the EAC is the prerogative of the Summit of Heads of State. It is also up to any country that wants to join the...

In Rwanda, it's chagua. In Kenya, mitumba. In Zambia, salaula — most African languages have a word for the piles of discarded garments that end up for sale across the African continent. Millions of people around the world donate clothes annually with the understanding that they will go to the needy or will be resold in secondhand stores. However, while charities do financially benefit from some of the donated garments, many more enter a secondary marketplace governed by free market principles. A thriving and lucrative industry has emerged out of clothing outcasts that provide work for armies of resellers, distributors and market stall holders in developing markets like India or East Africa. But like any other business sector, there are winners and losers in this complex and booming trade. The average American throws away 70 pounds of textile waste every year, according to the Council for Textile Recycling, so diverting clothing away from landfills and giving it a new life may seem like a good idea. But the mass influx of cheap hand-me-downs from Western countries has had a negative impact on local apparel industries and production in low-income countries. Used clothing in good condition, which entered the supply chain as a donation, undercut new clothes produced locally. To this point, the governments of the East African Community (EAC) — the regional organisation that comprises of Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda — plans to outlaw all secondhand clothing imports by 2019, in a bid to boost domestic manufacturing. “Donating your used garments...

Non-stop flights between Kenya and the US could grow trade, tourism and the hotel sectors two-fold in the first year of commencement. According to Kenya’s Ambassador to the US Robinson Githae, direct flights will increase Nairobi’s cargo traffic and solidify trade between America and East Africa, with volumes of top exports such as fresh-cut flowers expanding exponentially. Mr Githae confirmed that all approvals for direct flights had been obtained from US aviation authorities, adding that national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) should now move fast to rework its route plan to include US cities. “We have attained all the approvals. What remains is for KQ to reorganise its routes and launch the inaugural flight,” he said in an interview with The Standard in the US. “Business entities and leaders are angling to be part of the inaugural flight to and from the US,” he added. Safety certification was issued by the US Office of International Aviation in February and effected on September 5, 2017, a move that has attracted the interest of top aviation players. Cancelled flights Eight years ago, Delta Airlines cancelled planned flights between Atlanta in the US and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport through Dakar, Senegal, over security issues. Delta, together with KQ, are members of the Sky Team airline alliance. Githae said the lengthy travel time to the US and high cost of transporting produce via transit points such as Britain’s Heathrow and Holland’s Amsterdam airports would soon end. “Now, with direct flights, there will be enormous advantages. Kenyan flower exporters will no longer be subjected to ‘unnecessary’ levies at transit points. " Kenya is America’s 85th largest goods trading partner with $1.5 billion (Sh150 billion) in total trade. Goods exported totalled $937 million (Sh93.7 billion) while imports hit...

The World Bank Lead Economist and lead author of Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies, Ms Punam Chuhan-Pole, said strong growth would offer prospects for increased trade and investments through more opportunities for exports and global financing. “Strong global growth will offer more opportunities for trade and investments... provides more alternatives for global financing where investors will look for more opportunities for financing,” she said in a video conference from Washington during presentation of the report which projected Sub-Saharan Africa would record modest economic growth recovery of 2.4 per cent in 2017 after the region grew by just 1.3 per cent in 2016. East Africa posted strong economic growth last year helping Africa to retain its position as the second-fastest growing continent globally despite a dismal growth. According to African Development Bank (AfDB), much of Africa’s growth in 2016 was driven by East Africa where sev eral countries recorded strong performances. Tanzania recorded 7.0 per cent growth, Kenya 5.8 per cent, and Rwanda and Uganda 5.9 per cent. And according to Global Economic Prospect report released recently, East Africa is projected to continue with robust economic growth where Ethiopia is forecast to expand by 8.3 per cent and Tanzania by 7.2 per cent. In its new Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies, the World Bank however warns that the pace of the recovery remains sluggish and will be insufficient to lift per capita income in this year. Albert Zeufack, World...

DEVISING a regional science, technology and innovation (STI) policy is among key priorities of Kigali-based East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO) this year. The EASTECO executive secretary, Gertrude Ngabirano, said this last week after the Permanent Secretaries of Ministries responsible for East African Community Affairs visited the institution’s headquarters to discuss its strategic plan and priority programmes. Ngabirano said they have four priority areas with the first dealing with putting in place education-based policies at the regional level. “This year, we will be working on a regional STI policy. In the short run, for example, we’ll be working on putting in place a regional intellectual property rights policy,” she said, emphasising the importance of the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. “We will also be working on a regional knowledge management framework involving establishment of electronic data bases. For example, recent research can be availed so that the public knows what research has been done and people who are interested can build on what is already in place.” EASTECO is a semi-autonomous institution of the EAC mandated to promote and coordinate the development, management and application of science, technology and innovation in partner states. Ngabirano said the commission’s work is in response to the fact that regional students’ enrollment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is on the decrease as compared to other fields of study. STEM is normally more expensive, she noted, and there is a need to invest more in laboratories and...

The commercial enterprise of U.S. companies selling used clothing to African countries doesn’t seem a likely source of controversy, but the issue has become one of contention on two continents. The East African countries of Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Burundi have been trying to phase out imports of secondhand clothing and shoes over the last year. The countries claim the enterprise undermines their efforts to build domestic textile industries and they want to impose an outright ban by 2019. In March, the Office of the United States Trade Representative threatened to remove four of the six East African countries included in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, a preferential trade deal intended to lift trade and economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa. Burundi and South Sudan, gripped by upheaval, had already been expelled from the trade deal because their governments were accused of perpetrating state violence. Across Africa, secondhand merchandise is the primary source of clothing. Rwanda has said it is seeking to curb the import of secondhand clothes, not only on the grounds of protecting a nascent local industry, but also because it says wearing hand-me-downs compromises the dignity of its people. Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame said that the region should go ahead with the ban even if it meant sacrificing some economic growth. “We have to grow and establish our industries,” Kagame said in June. “This is the choice we find that we have to make. We might suffer consequences. Even when confronted with difficult choices, there is...

The East Africa Business Council wants countries which have not joined the regional electronic cargo tracking system (RECTS) project to do so sooner than later as the latter is considered to be effective in safety of goods while in transit. Urging Tanzania and Burundi to join Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya in embracing a harmonized electronic cargo tracking system, the apex body of business associations of the Private Sector and Corporates from EAC partner states, is emphasizing that the system reduces the cost of doing business. The EABC Executive Director Lilian Awinja has reiterated that RECTS is, among others, “a very good idea that is reducing diversion and theft of transit cargo.” “Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda are already on board, and this is something we appreciate because it adds value to the Single Customs Territory (SCT),” Awinja said, adding that the EABC needs the revenue authorities in the two other countries to “take up the cost of that gadget because it is in their best interest to have these gadgets on the trucks.” “What we need is to see Tanzania and Burundi join the regional cargo tracking system. The revenue authorities should support this whole process and make sure that they own it and we work together as a region, so that it is implemented uniformly across all partner states. We are supposed to work together. We are in a Customs Union.” Rwanda launched the e-Cargo tracking system which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through Trademark...

This was a declaration made by over 300 delegates from Africa and international players in grain industry during the closing of the 7th African Grain Trade Summit in Dar es Salaam. The summit was held under the theme: “Setting New Horizons to rethink Grain Trade for Food Security and Prosperity in Africa,” and was opened by the Tanzania  agriculture minister, Dr John Tizeba. The EAC Partner States with the threat of high population growth were urged to borrow a leaf from emerging developed economies such as Brazil and Mexico who have transformed their people through agriculture. “African economies heavily rely on agriculture as a major source of income, but untapped potential has resulted in persistent poverty and limited wealth creation,” Alehandro Terminel, the chairperson of the board of the Terra Wealth Trader Company, Mexico told delegates . Terminel observed that the continent’s food security has declined over the past five decades despite interventions from governments, the private sector and development partners. “Africa has a rapid population growth of which 60% are under the age of 25 with higher preference for rice consumption than maize. This calls for crop diversification to meet consumer needs within and outside the continent,” he stated. The delegates observed that the infrastructure remains a top issue in the region with some agricultural areas with high potential of agricultural production still inaccessible. “In the Great Horn of Africa, some states are still volatile and this has hampered development and social well-being of the grain sector in the region,” Yohannes...

Ethiopia, whose economy recently overtook Kenya’s, is now the fastest-growing economy in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new World Bank report. This means Ethiopia’s economy will further stretch its lead on Kenya’s even as the latter grapples with economic headwinds, including heightened political temperatures that have left investors jittery. “Ethiopia is likely to remain the fastest-growing economy in the region,” noted the Africa’s Pulse Report released yesterday. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), another Bretton Woods institution, projects Ethiopia’s economy to grow by 8.5 per cent this year, three percentage points higher than Kenya’s, which is expected to grow by five per cent. The Bretton Woods institution noted the growth came about despite the expected slowdown in public investment. Ethiopia’s economy overtook Kenya’s, with the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - or the total value of goods and services produced annually - hitting Sh7.4 trillion last year compared to Kenya’s Sh7 trillion in the same year. And although the report projects Kenya’s growth to recover as inflation eases, recent developments on the political front have left the country’s economy in a precarious position. Already, GDP growth in the second quarter of this year slowed, growing by five per cent compared to 6.3 per cent in the same quarter last year as agriculture, manufacturing and financial services all took a beating. It was the slowest Q2 growth since 2012 when the economy expanded by 4.3 per cent. A drought, which swept across the whole of the Horn of Africa, is to blame...