The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has entered into a partnership agreement with the East Africa Trade and Investment Hub to ensure best-in-class manufacturing of goods destined for the US market from East Africa. Signed yesterday (21 February) in Las Vegas, the agreement launches the 'East Africa Cotton, Textile and Apparel Initiative' to establish sustainable workforce development programmes and institutionalise environmental, social, labour and worker safety best practices in the region. The aim is to work with East African governments to raise industry standards, promote job creation, and increase trade and investment. US retailers and East African businesses are expected to both benefit from the initiative. The Hub, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organisation, will work to help East African governments and private sector entities institutionalise the best practices and standards that US apparel, footwear, and travel goods sourcing companies require. It is hoping to support the creation of 45,000 jobs across Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda in the first three years of the initiative, as well as creating jobs and further growth in the US apparel, footwear, and travel goods sector. Meanwhile, the AAFA says it will actively engage in advocacy activities before country governments in East Africa and lead private sector engagement. It will also "strengthen US manufacturing and support US jobs and economic growth" for its brands while encouraging companies and their suppliers to develop sustainable operations in East Africa. East Africa is establishing itself as a key sourcing destination for global apparel,...

It is crystal clear that the relation of Ethiopia and Sudan is evolving to the level of mutual trust. Their cooperation in investment and diplomatic communication has continued growing. Ethiopia has been working with all nations close by to capitalize regional interrogations. It as well is striving to address infrastructural gaps on top a underpinning power as well as trade and human development endeavors. Ethiopia is showing unwavering commitment towards furthering relationship between the aforementioned nations. The country's clicking with Sudan could corroborate the case in point. For mutual benefits, Sudan the trustworthy nation in pursuing and willing to establishing proper relations with the Nile Basin countries. tBoth nations have demonstrated notable cooperation in the utilization of the Nile River in this system. Both Ethiopia and Sudan believe that Nile is surely a source of cooperation and mutual benefits among neighboring countries. The economic and security interdependence Ethiopia has developed with Sudan is considered to be a lasting investment for both. Its political leadership's commitment is attributable to the achieved important gains in economic integration. For instance, the volume of trade has been increasing significantly showing 27 percent annual growth since the Preferential Trade Agreement was signed between the two sides before ten years. Last week, the 18th session of the joint Ethio-Sudan border development conference had been held in the town of Mekele, northern Ethiopia. The conference's focus was among the initiatives by the two countries geared towards strengthening ties. The monumental ties of Sudan and Ethiopia could be...

When it comes to non-tariff barriers, each country in the East African Community has a story of its own: If not complaining about another member state, the said country is imposing its own, according to a report on the elimination of non-tariff barriers in the region. The report points fingers at Tanzania as the country with the highest number of NTBs in the region. For example, to register any product in Tanzania, one is required to pay $2,000 against other countries in the region charging $1,000. After registration, Tanzania demands the same price for renewal after every five years besides an annual retention fee of $300. According to the report, presented to the EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment on February 2, the Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) registers injectables and other products per pack size and treats each pack as a product by itself. In other countries in the world including the other EAC states, manufacturer's register all products as one but highlight all the presentations on the same certificate. "Kenyan exports to Tanzania are subjected to verification three times -- at the manufacturers premises, and the trucks have to pass through ICD for full verification at the border. This consumes time and is costly for Kenyan exporters," said the report adding that Tanzania also has a pallet fumigation requirement for Kenyan wood pallets to enter into Tanzania. The 75 per cent rules of origin requirement for tobacco originating from Kenya to enter...

Clearing and forwarding practitioners want East Africa (EA) governments to pass laws regulating the industry to deter malpractices associated with handling import and export cargo. The Federation of East African Freight and Forwarders Associations(FEAFFA) this week said that introduction of a Single Customs Territory for the region had affected their operations as they were now required to understand how each country’s law are applied on matters import or export cargo. FEAFFAs executive director John Mathenge said there was also need to have a single regulatory authority for the East African Community (EAC) to help create a seamless arena for clearing agents and freight forwarders to operate in. “The Bill is an important step towards creation of a harmonised regime making it easy for our members to operate across borders while ending the raging confusion that makes it impossible to create rules and regulations for our industry,” he said. The meeting observed that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda were yet to formulate a standard definition of tasks handled by FEAFFA members creating loopholes for graft to thrive at ports and border points. It noted that heightened activities at ports also saw many FEAFFA members engage in undercutting deals, adversely affecting operations and causing disagreements among members that have in the past raised integrity issues affecting even customs officials. Mr Mathenge said while the EAC had passed a law defining the role of FEAFFA members and customs agents, no country had domesticated the same denying them an opportunity to formulate professional standards...

The recent big fight over seats in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has led to questions over what is at stake. Answers to the question are important, not least because, fierce competition for the seats rages in almost all EALA member states. Kenyan EALA MP, Abubakar Zein Abubakar, told The Independent that the race in Nairobi is likely to be hot. "Right now you have not heard anything because the Kenyan parliament has not yet advertised for people to apply but once they do, you will see all the movements," he said. In 2012, the EALA race in Kenya was characterised by fierce competition. Up to 119 candidates applied for the five seats of the main Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party. These were shredded down to 63 and presented to parliament on the day of voting. The ODM was the majority party led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The other parties were Party of National Unity (PNU), Kenya Africa National Union (KANU), National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and Wiper and they all got one seat as ODM took up five seats. Abubakar, an ODM representative says it will be a different situation since the last elections, held in 2013 slightly changed the representation in the Kenyan parliament. He says this time, ODM will be entitled to five seats, The National Alliance (TNA) of Uhuru Kenyatta will have 3 seats, and United Republican Party (URP) of William Ruto will have 2 seats. The independents will not have a representative because...

Carmen Nibigira, the Coordinator at the East Africa Tourism Platform, has earlier today already been available for interaction to get her feedback to the EATP web portal launch of yesterday. The presentation was well received by the audience in the room and comments were exclusively positive, that another avenue to promoted ‘Destination East Africa‘ had been created and was now active and open for use. Said Carmen to this correspondent: ‘Let me start by registering my and our team’s sincere gratitude to regional governments and their respective tourism boards for the commitment to regional tourism development and marketing. This is the first time that Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda have committed and successfully executed joint promotional initiatives- Destination East Africa Portal joint Advertisement and Documentary. These promotional initiatives are timely, more so, given the prospects for tourism development in our region. They will enlighten our domestic and regional tourists on simplified travel procedures and help entice them to explore East Africa. It is our hope that they will cement our belief in regional tourism and help set the stage for further innovations in regional tourism marketing‘. She then continued to say that the East Africa Tourism Platform (EATP), as an organization was delighted to report that concerted efforts- as public and private stakeholders were fruitful. EATP steadfastly keeps working towards the creation of a single and competitive tourism destination. Key achievements have been made in the adoption of a Joint Tourism Marketing Committee with regional strategy, a single destination brand; that...

Kigali — Strained relations between Burundi and Rwanda continue to hurt some operations of the East African Community (EAC), including failure by officials of either side to attend a regional meeting on another state. Diplomatic sources say although the EAC Council of Ministers--the policy organ of the Community--intervened recently by directing that meetings continue to be held on rotational basis in different capitals as usual, the situation has not been back to normal. The EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko acknowledged during his visit to the Rwanda capital early this week that when there are meetings of the Community in Kigali, delegates from Burundi do not attend and vice versa. The Community boss was quoted by the Rwanda media yesterday, saying that for the last one year the Council of Ministers has been trying to address the issue but without much success. It emerged, however, during talks between Ambassador Mfumukeko and the Rwanda minister responsible for EAC Affairs, Mr Francois Kanimba, that there had been some improvement over the relations between the two neighbouring states and that the opportunity should be used to fully normalise the relations. The minister said there was a time government officials in his country and Rwandans in general declined to travel to Burundi for security reasons and vice versa, though he has seen significant improvement in recent months. Relations between the two countries took a nose dive from the middle of 2015 at the height of violent protests in the Burundi capital over President Pierre Nkurunziza's...

Three East African countries can now jointly market their tourism products on line with the launch of the first joint East African destination portal. Kenya Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer Betty Radier joined other top tourism officials from Uganda and Rwanda in the unveiling the platform at the Pearl of Africa Trade Expo held at the Serena Kampala in Uganda over the weekend. The portal will be a shared platform for tourism trade operator to place their multi-country-packages promoting Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda; and provide a new channel to reach regional and international audiences. It will also allow access to tourism information on products, experiences and destinations, all on a single platform with the aim of enhancing availability of information in the region, as well as accessibility to the tourism supply chain. “The launch of the portal comes in stride with the East Africa striving to work together for the betterment of her people. If ever there was a better time for Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya to come together, it is now. Our economies are growing stronger and travel has been made easier due to the great improvements in our infrastructure,” said Radier. She added:“The fact that members’ countries can easily access each other’s countries by road, rail or even short distance flights should encourage more inter-country visits. Why travel the world when one has not explored the amazing beauty that East Africa as a whole has to offer?” KTB attended the expo aiming to strengthen Kenya’s ties with Uganda...

The United Kingdom has promised to strengthen trade and investment links with the East African Community Partner States for mutual benefit. UK High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Sarah Cooke, said that her country would remain an outward focused trade-based economy with strong partnerships with other countries and regional economic blocs even in the wake of Brexit. The high commissioner was speaking after she presented her credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha. Ms Cooke said the UK would create new partnerships with the EAC aimed at promoting private sector-led economic growth for employment creation and poverty reduction in the East African region. The envoy disclosed that the UK was the biggest contributor to Trade- Mark East Africa (TMA), adding that the funding to TMA was being utilised to finance technical assistance to the EAC in sectors such as customs, trade, investment and video teleconferencing. On his side, Amb. Mfumukeko said his priorities over the next four years would be to promote the free movement of persons and labour as enshrined in the EAC Common Market Protocol; increase investment for job creation and improve agriculture to ensure food security and create employment for the youth in East Africa. Source: All Africa

EAS Africa offers friendly investment ground for German investors that assures high rate of return than any other developing region in the world. This was said by the Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed at the Second German- African Business Summit organized by the East African Business Council (EABC) held in Nairobi last week. The meeting that attracted over 500 participants from business and politics provided opportunity to explore new markets, meet potential business partners and discussed opportunities and challenges on the business environment in Africa. “East Africa region is ready for and welcomes German investors to pursue investment opportunities to reap high rate of return than any other developing nation in the world,” she said. The EABC Chairman Mr Audace Ndayizeye said EABC has agreed to collaborate with the German African Business Association and other important German players as part of a ‘German – East African Advisory Forum’. In addition, the German African Business Association agreed to collaborate with EABC by jointly organizing the EAC – German Business Conference by end of the year. “The conference will not only look at financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) but also on which Foreign Direct Investment come from other countries to the EAC that Germany misses out” he said. On his part, the EABC Vice Chair Kenya, Ambassador Dennis Awori said, “Regional integration offers a larger market and common laws which reduce business cost of such as stocking in each different country” The panel discussions noted that regional integration successes...