This was revealed by the Chairman of Board of Directors Ali Mufuruki who said EAC still needs the support of his organisation especially when it comes to Infrastructure development. He said without well-developed infrastructure the EAC may fail to attract more international investors. “We are committed to raise the funds from our development partner’s because 80% of them are willing to offer their support after we proved capacity in effectively utilising the little resources they have given us,” said Mukuruki. This was during the TMA -2014/2015   Annual performing report release in Kampala. The $1billion will be used to support identified projects in the EAC countries Namely Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and the newly incorporated South Sudan. Without naming the projects TMA will finance in the upcoming five years, Mufuruki said the projects will be developed by the member’s states and must be in line with supporting trade and improving social services in the region. Some of the development partner’s TMA hopes to raise the $1billion funds to finance the projects in the EAC Economic block includes   Sweden Embassies, United Kingdom’s DFID, Canada and USIAD among other financiers. The above mentioned partners have been Influential in supporting TMA in the last five years.  “The results  are  truly  impressive .TMA,s support  for the Modernisation  of ports  in Mombasa and Dare Salam  and its  one stop  border posts  are  transforming  trade  and  driving  integration across the region. The time it takes to move goods from Mombasa to Kampala has been...

The implementation of the East African multi-entry single tourist visa is being hampered by the differences in national visa policies and regimes in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Speaking at a recent stakeholder forum in Kigali, a senior tourism development officer from Uganda Anne Awori, said that member states are forcing tourists holding the pass to pay extra upon entry into their countries. “We have come across many cases of officials asking tourists who have obtained the single entry visa from Uganda to pay entry fees in Rwanda or Kenya,” said Ms Awori. “A recent case is when Rwanda charged a 13-year-old tourist who was issued a regional visa from Uganda an additional $60.” Earlier, Uganda had blamed Kenya and Rwanda for breaching the visa agreement by issuing their own local visas to tourists instead of the single EAC tourist visa. At one time, Ugandan tourism officials were quoted by the local media as threatening to pull out from the visa project. “A visa is supposed to be issued by the first country of entry. For a Congolese for instance, Rwanda is their first entry country. But when we issue the visa, Uganda raises questions and makes them pay again for the pass,” said a Rwandan official. The heads of state from the three countries launched the single tourism visa in February 2014 under the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects. The idea is to allow tourists to move freely within Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda without applying or paying for another visa. Tourism...

KILOSA, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The huge stock of maize Jumanne Masele put aside last year was enough to spare his family from hunger and earn him cash to repay his debts - or so he thought. A short while after Masele had finished stuffing the grain into a traditional storage cocoon, he realized much of it had been infested by fungus as ground moisture from heavy rain seeped in through the bottom of his store made of dried soil, sticks and grass. “There was nothing I could do to salvage my grains - it was a total loss,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Despite a bumper harvest, the farmer, 44, from Mbumi village in the east Tanzania district of Kilosa lost most of his crops, threatening his family’s food supply.  “I still don’t know how to store my harvests - traditional techniques are no longer effective as the grain easily rots when we get unexpected extra rains,” Masele said. Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzania’s economy, providing work for more than four fifths of the population. The rural sector accounts for over half the country’s gross domestic product and export earnings, according to national statistics. Yet as Tanzanian farmers struggle to market their crops, nearly 40 percent of grains are lost to poor storage and extreme weather, costing the nation $332 million every year, the government says. Efforts are underway to curb these losses. Since 2013, smallholder farmers in nine African countries have been getting help to...

Kampala: Trade Facilitation Projects implemented in Uganda by TradeMark Africa, will induce about US$ 50 million in attributable new trade for the country for 2015/16. Further, TMA attributable time savings have thus far resulted in a 5.7% reduction in transport time between Kampala and ports since inception. This resultantly reduced trade costs and improved a consistent supply of goods like fuel. The results have emerged from independent evaluation of 10 TMA projects in Uganda. East Africa’s renowned businessperson and TMA board chair Ali Mufuruki made the announcement during an event at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala on Tuesday 31st May. TMA CEO Frank Matsaert and TMA Uganda Country Director Allen Asiimwe joined Mr. Mufuruki in announcing the results. TMA launched its Uganda Country Programme (UCP) in 2011 with an approximate budget of USD 100 Million. Independent evaluators conducted the evaluation in 2015 for a period of six months. They analysed projects in Customs modernisation, which includes support to Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) ASYCUDA, Electronic Cargo Tracking System and Authorised Economic Operators. Other projects include infrastructure development, Support to Ministry of East Africa and Uganda National Bureau of Standards, support to elimination of Non Tarrif barrier projects. The customs management system, ASYCUDA world has reduced the processing time for imports by 30%. This is 72 hours of time-savings as previously it took 120 hours on clearing imports and exports. Through the Single Customs Territory, URA/KRA integration has increased the pre-clearance and reduced delays at the port for essential goods like fuel. Standards compliance,...

Kampala- The founding First Ladies of the East African Community (EAC) have called for fast-tracking of the integration plans by the member countries. This call was made during a special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) in Arusha, Tanzania, on Tuesday. Ms Ngina Kenyatta, the widow of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta, and Ms Miria Obote, the widow of former president Milton Obote, reminisced over the memories of the first EAC and challenged Eala members to ensure the future of integration is both guaranteed and realised. Ms Maria Nyerere, widow of Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, did not attend the function and was represented by Makongoro Nyerere, an Eala member. Ms Obote called for the prioritisation of economic investment projects, including oil refineries, the Standard Gauge Railway, agricultural research, food security and climate change. She urged the region to move faster to have an integrated syllabus and curriculum to stabilise the labour market within EAC. “For instance, a majority of Ugandans have never learnt proper Swahili. We are now learning proper Swahili in schools and in the public engagement. This is the best way towards integration,” she said. Ms Kenyatta informed the regional MPs that EAC’s founding fathers had “walked and worked tirelessly” in anticipation of unity of the region. “In 1967, all three of us were witnesses to the establishment of a community that spoke to that shared sentiment. The East African Community was built on the understanding that our nations and our people were...

The six East African States are set to replicate a new driving curriculum recently launched in Kenya as the region moves to harmonise its roads' instruction manual. East African Community (EAC) secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko said Kenya's curriculum meets the standards of the proposed regional one that would be launched soon and adopted by all member states. The bloc's members include South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Mr Mfumukeko said EAC would use the syllabus to test the implementation of the regional training manual. "The curriculum that you have launched meets the requirements of the regional standards. We at the community will use the implementation modalities for the Kenyan curriculum to test the implementation of our manual guide," said Mr Mfumukeko. Last week, Kenya launched a new curriculum to replace the one that is currently on use as the country seeks to curb increasing cases of road accidents that have largely been attributed to human error. TradeMark Africa has developed the regional curriculum and training material for drivers of large commercial vehicles in EAC. The syllabus comprises the EAC standardised curriculum for drivers of large commercial vehicles for both passengers and freight. The curriculum was developed with input from Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). The country's Transport Cabinet secretary James Macharia said it is important for the region to harmonise the driving curriculum for the benefit of member states. "It is good to note that we are heading towards harmonisation of the regional curriculum for drivers, this...

Trade policy must be carefully crafted to ensure trade helps to reduce poverty, concluded a joint WTO-World Bank forum on 26 May, with speakers explaining how sound policies can help farmers, women and workers benefit from trade. The forum focused on rural poverty and gender inequality, employment and poverty alleviation, data gathering, and the Aid for Trade initiative. “Lowering trade costs faced by developing countries and integrating them into the trading system is essential,” Anabel González of the World Bank Group said. “But we have learned that this process of integration has the greatest impact on poverty reduction when poor people have been connected to the benefits of trade, with their capacities to gain maximized, and their vulnerabilities addressed,” she said. The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement and Aid for Trade can help make it easier for small players in developing countries to participate in the international trading system, said Bridget Chilala, Director of the WTO's Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation. There remains room, however, to explore more ways to ensure trade eradicates poverty, she said. Rural poverty In the agriculture sector, several speakers called on policymakers to refrain from protectionist strategies as the trade distortions can hurt the rural poor, particularly in developing countries. “One thing that is really important to keep in mind when considering the role of trade policy in agriculture is that most developing countries' agricultural trade is now with other developing countries,” said Will Martin, the President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. “Very...

Business leaders meeting today (30 May 2016) at the WTO headquarters outlined how the organization could address the current needs of the business community. In addition to the current negotiating agenda, they urged the WTO to look at a wide range of issues such as electronic commerce, rules to better facilitate services and investment flows, support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, action to provide trade finance, and many others. The Trade Dialogues event brought together over 60 business leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in conducting trade operations and to discuss how the WTO can help in dealing with them. The attendees were from small and large enterprises, from developed and developing countries, and from a variety of sectors. The event was held at the request of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 group of leading independent business associations from G20 economies, and facilitated by the WTO. The businesses that participated in the event are listed below. This high-level event for the business community is the first of its kind to be held at the WTO. It is part of a series of ‘Trade dialogues’ that will provide a range of stakeholders with the possibility to discuss their concerns on trade-related matters. Participants were welcomed by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. This opening session was followed by break-out sessions where participants engaged in a focused dialogue in small groups. These sessions were chaired by four ’discussion leaders’: Sunil Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti...

Over 4000 clearing and forwarding agents have received training in clearing and forwarding to match with the growing trade in the East African Community. The training is part of the  $2.1m program funded by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) and implemented by the East Africa regional freight forwarding Association  (FEAFFA) in conjunction with the East Africa Revenue Authorities (EARA). TMA's chief executive officer, Frank Matsaert said the training program was aimed at addressing the skills gap among freight forwarders and clearing agents in the region. He explained that the training was based on a survey by TMA that found out that freight forwarders and clearing agents lacked the necessary skills and capacity in clearing cargo at the border points resulting into delays, increase in cargo clearance costs and cargo release times. "The training could save companies up to 385 dollars in savings as the same amount of money could have been spent in fines by companies whose agents commit errors in the process of clearing," said Matsaert. He added that through training key people in freight forwarding businesses, there will be increased trade transactions. "Where you see trade grow you see prosperity take root. By training the key people in the freight forwarding business, we are helping move goods quicker, save time and money and help the region develop" added Matseart. According to him, the efficient flow of international trade relies on a range of skilled service providers working together, clearing and forwarding agents. Since 2011, 90 per cent of...

(www.abndigital.com) The African Development Bank's annual meetings kicked off in Arusha this week, with a host of activities, including the launching of the 2012 African Economic Outlook. This is to be followed by the inauguration of another report about private sector development in the continent. ABN's Godfrey Mutizwa spoke to Uledi Mussa, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the EAC Ministry and Nkosana Moyo, Executive Chairman of Mining at the Mandela Institute of Studies. Source: CNBC Africa