Unemployment and underemployment among skilled Rwandans could reduce if young graduates took advantage of the opportunities offered by the East African Community (EAC) integration. Dr James Ndahiro, Rwanda’s East African Legislative Assembly member of Parliament, said there are many jobs that Rwandans can secure in the region under the common market that provides for free movement of labour, people and goods, among others. Ndahiro said other Rwandans could start up businesses to engage in cross-border trade, noting that this would also help create more jobs. The EALA member was speaking during a sensitisation drive about the benefits of the EAC integration at University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology in Kigali on Tuesday. The Rwandan EALA MPs are currently carrying out a countrywide sensitisation campaign about the opportunities presented by EAC integration under the theme, “The EAC integration agenda: Accessing the gains of integration”. The MPs explained the opportunities Rwanda can exploit in different sectors across the EAC bloc. Ndahiro urged the students to be aggressive and use their skills to compete for the numerous regional jobs that are advertised regularly in the media. “Rwanda joined the EAC with the aim of tapping into the region’s economic benefits, so you should not shy away from competing for these jobs in the region if you qualify,” he said. Patricia Hajabakiga, another EALA MP, urged the students to learn the languages that are commonly used in EAC countries, especially Swahili and English to increase their competitiveness in the regional job market....

Regional trading times and costs have been reduced through elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers in the region, advancing trade and prosperity, a TradeMark Africa evaluation report has said. TradeMark Africa has been supporting the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to trade in the East African Community (EAC). NTB’s present a serious challenge to trade with an EAC wide cost estimate of NTBs (2010) being approximately US$490 million. Emerging results from the recently conducted independent evaluation of the NTB’s programme indicate a 14 per cent reduction in time taken to import goods from each East African country (from 36 days to 31 days) and a 20 per cent reduction in time taken to export goods from each EAC country (from 33 days to 26 days). Further results indicate a reduction in the cost of transporting a standard (40 foot) container from Mombasa to Kigali, from US$6,500 in 2011 to US$4,800, which is estimated to have generated a saving (at constant volumes) of approximately US$7 million on the Mombasa-Kigali route alone Similarly, Inland transportation times from Dar es Salaam to Kigali have dropped considerably, now to 3.5 days. Burundi tops the list of the East African countries that has witnessed the highest import reduction time – at 28 per cent (from 30 days to 43 days). The time taken to export from Uganda has successfully reduced from nearly 35 days in 2010 to under 30 days in 2015. Other areas that have witnessed great progress include Tanzania which has witnessed a 99 per...

East African countries have managed to reduce trading times and costs through elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), advancing trade and prosperity, a regional trade development lobby said on Wednesday. "A reduction of NTBs will invariably lead to more trade in the region, which is ultimately our goal, of growing prosperity through trade," said Matsaert, CEO of TradeMark Africa, a donor-funded organization formed to help regional states speed up integration. "This is a significant milestone in the growth and development of our region. Non-Tariff Barriers remain a stumbling block in growing prosperity in the EAC region," he said during the launch of an evaluation report in Nairobi.. The report comes at a time when elimination of NTBs remains a teething challenge not only to regional trade and integration but also a subject that partner states grapple with in the quest of growing trade within the EAC bloc. Analysts say barriers like customs documentation requirements, varying systems of customs formalities and non-harmonised standards requirements among others continue to impede trade within the region. They also say that if NTBs were removed on maize, for example, Uganda would benefit significantly in terms of increased production and trade compared to Kenya and Tanzania. The time taken to export from Uganda has successfully reduced from nearly 35 days in 2010 to under 30 days in 2015. Other areas that have witnessed great progress include Tanzania which has witnessed a 99 per cent reduction in application time from 5 days to only one hour due to...

Regional trading times and costs have been reduced through elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers in the region advancing trade and prosperity, says a TradeMark Africa evaluation report. TradeMark Africa has been supporting the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to trade in the East African Community (EAC). NTB’s present a serious challenge to trade with an EAC wide cost estimate of NTBs (2010) being approximately US$490 million. Emerging results from the recently conducted independent evaluation of the NTB’s programme indicate a 14 per cent reduction in time taken to import goods from each East African country (from 36 days to 31 days) and a 20 per cent reduction in time taken to export goods from each EAC country (from 33 days to 26 days). Further results indicate a reduction in the cost of transporting a standard (40 foot) container from Mombasa to Kigali, from US$6,500 in 2011 to US$4,800, which is estimated to have generated a saving (at constant volumes) of approximately US$7 million on the Mombasa-Kigali route alone Similarly, Inland transportation times from Dar es Salaam to Kigali have dropped considerably, now to 3.5 days. Burundi tops the list of the East African countries that has witnessed the highest import reduction time – at 28 per cent (from 30 days to 43 days). The time taken to export from Uganda has successfully reduced from nearly 35 days in 2010 to under 30 days in 2015. Other areas that have witnessed great progress include – Tanzania which has witnessed a 99 per...

The officials who started a two-day meeting on Monday under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit are from Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia and host Uganda. The meeting precedes the ministers and the heads of state meetings that will be held later in the week. The Northern Corridor is the transport corridor that links the East African Community (EAC) landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan with the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa. The corridor also serves northern Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. Back in 2013, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta held an initial meeting to discuss how to cooperate and speed up development in the region. Their concern initially was the long time cargo to and from Mombasa took to reach its destination, infrastructure development and the cost of doing business in the region. Over the years, the scope and number of countries has increased. Uganda’s ministry of foreign affairs in a statement on Monday said the forthcoming meetings will review the status of implementation of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects since the last Summit held in December 2015 in Kigali, Rwanda. These projects are in the areas of infrastructure development, energy, information technology and socio-economic development. The projects are shared out by the countries to enable their fast-tracking. Uganda coordinates the Standard Gauge Railway, information communication and technology infrastructure, oil refinery development, fast-tracking political federation and financing. Kenya is coordinating...

Kampala — The East African Community new generation e-passport will replace all national passports in the region starting next year, the State Minister for East African Community Affairs, has said. Mr Shem Bageine said the decision to replace national passports was reached by the heads of state of member countries during a March summit in Arusha, Tanzania. In the same summit, South Sudan signed concession treaty, bringing the number of EAC member states to six, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. In an interview at the weekend, Mr Bageine told Daily Monitor e-passports, which have been fast-trucked since 2013, will replace existing EAC passport and the national passports. "The phasing out process of national passports begins January 2017 and is expected to end by December 2018. It means after that whoever is travelling to outside East Africa will use that document," said Mr Bageine. The e-passports, according to Mr Bageine, will act as a symbol of unification for all East African citizens on top of the planned use of Swahili and printing of a single East African currency. "The passport will in fact strengthen the federation because people will begin thinking more as East Africans," he said. Regional governments in consultation with the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a global body that regulates air transport, have already agreed on the identity and security features of the passports. Asked what will happen to Ugandans whose national passports' validity extends beyond the two years of withdrawal, Mr Bageine said in the period...

East African citizens will soon be able to make and receive calls across several African countries at reduced rates following a decision by several African states to implement the One Africa Network. The decision, that is binding to 11 countries across Africa, was reached Monday at a high-level meeting of ICT Ministers and Regulators convened under the Smart Africa Initiative. The implementing countries include; Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Senegal, South Sudan, Chad, Rwanda and Burkina Faso. Among other developments, the implementation of the One Africa Network will see harmonisation of tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the 11 countries. International traffic among Smart Africa member countries will also be tax exempt, consequently bringing down the calling costs. The ministers’ meeting also agreed on scraping charges incurred when receiving calls while roaming, meaning that someone will be only be required to pay the domestic rates for making calls. Implementation is set to start in May with a report on the initiative to be presented during the African Union summit slated for July in Kigali. Dr Hamadoun Touré, the executive director of Smart Africa Secretariat, said that this initiative will bring the continent towards the goal of integration as desired by the founding of the African Union. “This initiative is certainly a step up towards greater integration of the African continent. I appeal to all other countries of the African Union to join this initiative as soon as possible,” he said. “Ultimately, regional integration is about...

About the Inquiry The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trade Out of Poverty (APPG TOP) is undertaking an inquiry into the UK’s Africa Free Trade Initiative (AFTi), which was launched by the Prime Minister five years ago. The inquiry will look at progress, potential and future development of the Africa Free Trade Initiative. This Inquiry seeks to answer the following three main questions: What has been achieved in AFTi since 2011 and what lessons can be learned? Is there a case for a successor to AFTi in the area of further facilitating trade and investment within Africa as a driver of growth and poverty reduction, and between African and the rest of the world, including the UK? What should a future AFTi look like, what targets should it seek to achieve, and through which means and partnerships should it be delivered? The Inquiry is led by a committee co-chaired by Lord Stephen Green, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Group Chairman of HSBC, and Mr. Ali Mufurki, Board Chair of TradeMark Africa and founder and Chairman of Infotech Investment Group. Other Committee members include Prof. Myles Wickstead, former Head of Secretariat, Commission for Africa and Ambassador Darlington Mwape, Senior Fellow at International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and former Permanent Representative of Zambia to the WTO. The Secretariat for the APPG-TOP, Saana Institute, will support the Inquiry committee in gathering evidence, organising hearings and preparing its Report. About the Africa Free Trade initiative (AFTi) The UK...

HANGZHOU – Trade between African countries and the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu increased 20−fold, while the city’s imports from the continent rose 30−fold in the past half−decade. Local companies from the city have also invested US$39 million in seven African countries by the end of 2015, about 16% of the city’s overseas investment, according to Yiwu deputy mayor Xiong Tao during the fifth China−Africa Think Tanks Forum, which was held over the weekend. Last year, imports and exports between African countries and Yiwu reached 49,8 billion yuan (US$7,7 billion ), up 49% year−on−year, accounting for 2,7% of China’s total trade volume with Africa. “Africa is Yiwu’s second−largest continent−level trade partner after Asia, accounting for 23% of foreign trade,” Xiong said. Yiwu is the world’s largest wholesale market for small consumer goods. More than 3 000 African merchants are stationed in Yiwu, and nearly 300 Africans study here. The city reports 80 000 buyers from Africa every year. Besides, over 5 000 kinds of products from 29 African countries and regions are available at the Yiwu International Trade City. Source: The Namibian

The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) has unveiled a trade portal that will facilitate electronic issuance of ordinary Certificates of Origin (CoO). A CoO is an international trade document attesting that goods in a particular export shipment are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured or processed in a particular country. Issuance of the CoO is only done by the KNCCI through a manual process that usually took a minimum of three days. The web based portal, designed in partnership with Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), will also allow application for membership of KNCCI. Speaking at the launch Friday, KNCCI chief executive Matanda Wabuyele said the portal will allow users to cut on costs and time spent in acquiring the CoO. “A customer can apply for a certificate of origin from the comfort of their home/location. In addition it cuts on paper, ink and archiving resources,” he said. Mr Wabuyele noted that automation of the process came in handy in fighting corruption as it eliminated unwanted privileges and preferential treatment. In the case of foreign trade, the portal is expected to benefit foreign traders by lowering transaction costs arising from periods of inactivity in the manual processing of formalities for export operations. It will also allow users to make payments using various means including real time gross settlement (RTGS), bankers cheque, online banking and electronic funds transfer (EFT). To facilitate the payments, it has been integrated with local platforms such as M-Pesa and Equitel. Source: Business Daily