President Uhuru Kenyatta has said Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda are working together to improve on infrastructure and reduce the cost of doing business.Kenyatta said the three countries were also working together on removal of barriers that deterred free movement of people and goods across the borders. He said the dream of a united East African Community will only be realized when all bureaucratic obstacles are removed and signed protocols implemented. “As regional leaders, we meet after every two months to ensure that all protocols and MOUs signed between our countries, are operationalized and not kept on shelves,” the President said. He said containers leaving the port of Mombasa to Kampala, which previously took 21 days, are now taking only four days to reach the destination. Those destined for Kigali take six days from the previous one month. “The cost of transporting the containers to Kigali from the port of Mombasa has also significantly reduced from $3,500 to $1000. Due to the efficiency, at the port and along the highway,” the president said. He made the comments when he met a delegation of German entrepreneurs led by former German President Horst Kohler who paid him a courtesy call on him on Wednesday. Dr. Kohler said German entrepreneurs are choosing Kenya as their investment destination in the East African region due to its strategic position as the region’s economic hub. He assured the President that through the German entrepreneurs already in the country, awareness in his country on business opportunities in Kenya,...

German investors will push for scrapping of tariff policies discriminating against products from Kenya and the rest of East Africa to help improve the trade balance between the economies. The investors also agreed to change the country’s view of East Africa as a fragmented economy in fresh bilateral ties, promising intense investments activities. Former Federal President of Germany Horst Kohler said this will allow more exports from the region and encourage local innovations and companies to set up shop in Germany. “We have to recognize East Africa as a common trading bloc like we do to European Union (EU) and Ecowas (West Africa). We have to stop looking at Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as separate markets,” he said. Kohler, however, urged regional leaders to put more emphasis on implementation of joint projects to boost ease of doing business. He spoke yesterday in Nairobi at the inaugural East African-German Business Colloquium that brought together 150 key investors from Germany, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with a common goal of exploiting new opportunities in the region. Germany has limited trade with Africa, accounting for a paltry one per cent of the continent’s total trade volume. Its major trading partners include the Netherlands, France, UK and the US. Kenya’s direct exports to Germany account for eight per cent of total trade volumes, with majority of goods passing through third countries in the EU such as Netherlands and France using agents and suppliers. Cabinet secretary for International Trade and Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammed said an...

NAIROBI, Kenya - Jun 4 The East African Council of Ministers has presented the region’s budget estimates for the 2014/2015 financial year of Sh10.8 billion ($124,069,695). The budget priorities the full implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol with particular focus on free movement of goods, services, labour and capital as well as the implementation of the EAC Industrialisation Policy. The budget estimates were presented before the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) by Tanzania Deputy EAC Minister Abdallah Sadala Abdallah on behalf of the EAC Council of Ministers chair Phyllis Kandie. “Further amendments of the national laws to conform to the Common Market Protocol are envisaged for the next Financial Year. The Council of Ministers intends to introduce a Bill to the EALA to deal with challenges been witnessed with regards to implementation of the Protocol,” Sadala mentioned. Other key areas include development of cross-border infrastructure with particular focus on implementing decisions of the Summit Retreat and the sensitisation of East Africans towards deepened East Africa integration. “The EAC Common Market Scorecard 2014 launched in February should be able to assist Partner States to identify areas of slow or limited progress and foster stronger peer learning to accelerate its implementation,” the minister said. The East African Community Secretariat has been allocated Sh6.6 billion, East African Legislative Assembly Sh1.3 billion, while the East African Court of Justice has been given a share of Sh401 million. The Inter-University Council for East Africa shall receive Sh823 million, Lake Victoria Basin Commission Sh1.2 billion...

Efficient customs services can play an important part in monitoring trade related regulations as well as generating substantial amount of revenues. World Customs Organisation (WCO) says developing countries like Tanzania will achieve higher economic growth rates if customs services are improved to cut down the cost of doing business. The Ambassador of Finland to Tanzania Ms Sinikka Antila said at the WCO National Policy Dialogue between the government and the private sector last week that efficient working customs authorities are key for facilitating international trade. “Time and costs associated with crossing borders are a major impediment for integrating countries in international value particularly for the most African countries where easy of doing business remains a challenge in transformation of economies,” he said. Well integrated customs rules and regulations could provide better ground for tracking down the penetration of fake and counterfeit goods which contribute immensely to killing domestic industries and plunging the nation into heavy losses. To ensure customs services become of global standards, the Finish government has been supporting customs authorities in the East African Region (EAC) through Trade Mark East Africa, which is 500 million US dollars multi-donor initiative to strengthen regional capacity to trade internationally. “Finland sees a lot of promise in the future in Africa and in particular EAC is one of the most rapidly growing regions in the world. It can be said that the regional integration is the core of our cooperation in Tanzania programme.” The EAC protocol on single customs union signed last...

Kenya has renewed the push to increase the quantity of products that manufacturers operating in Export Processing Zones sell within the region. At a meeting of East African Community (EAC) ministers for Finance and Trade, the country called for the region’s law to be amended to allow firms in EPZs to sell all their products in the domestic markets. Currently, companies are restricted to off-loading 20 per cent of their annual production to the EAC markets. This proposal was based on a study carried out last year indicating that 26 EPZ companies had withdrawn their investments from Kenya between 2010 and 2012, leading to a loss of about Sh40 billion in investments. “In this regard, Kenya recommends (the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment) to consider enhancing domestic market access thresholds for EPZ firms in the EAC from the current 20 per cent to 100 per cent of annual production subject to payment of all taxes, duties and levies,” reads the report prepared following the meeting in Arusha, last week. “We have seen growth in the number of firms setting up increase even as the 26 companies withdrew after they lost some of their immediate markets,” said EPZ Authority chief executive Cyrille Nabutola. KENYA STANDS ALONE Kenya stands alone with Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi opposing the idea of raising the domestic sales limit. The countries argue that EPZ companies are inherently export-driven. If they wish to target markets within the community, then they ought to shift to...

The African Trade Link and Expo’s (ATL & Expo) inaugural trade mission convenes on July 23-26, 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya at the Kenyatta International Conference Center. ATL & Expo is a non-profit California corporation supported by businesses and individuals with the goal of providing a platform where U.S. small businesses and international firms can increase trade, economic development, and tourism in Kenya and the U.S. Opportunities exist for ATL & Expo participants to network and link with prospective partners, government and business representatives. Briefings from businesses, are scheduled for all ATL & Expo attendee’s. Topics include Power Africa, Trade Africa, project finance, export/import, others. Targeted sectors include electrical, solar and green power, energy, agri-business, construction, apparel, infrastructure, manufacturing. Judi Minage, a Kenyan living in Southern California, is the executive producer and vision behind ATL and founder of MiNage, Inc, an exporter of apparel to Kenya. Other producers are Tyrone Hooks and Benjamin Walker; Evelyn Oyombera, Director of Kenya Logistics. The Nairobi, Kenya location for ATL & Expo’s inaugural small business trade mission has a well-developed business and financial sector. Kenya is strategically located at the gateway of trade in East Africa and a key hub for the transit of goods, as well as a destination for American, European and Asian companies seeking to do business in the region.The ATL & Expo vision is to increase trade with Sub-Sahara Africa. Source: Africatradelinkandexpo

Technical failures arising from inconsistent information technology infrastructure is hampering the success of the Single Customs Territory, traders expressed during a one day training workshop on the recent regional customs developments and procedures. The training attracted over 90 Ugandan shippers and freight forwarding agents, traders, Uganda Revenue Authority officials, members of Uganda Shippers Council who converged to keep abreast with the new recent regional customs innovations. They were taught the dynamics of Single Customs Territory, Electronic Cargo Tracking System and Electronic Single Windows System, developments that have been introduced to aid trade within the region. James Byenkya working with Ataco Freight Services explained that in the process of working with the system they experience abrupt failures like computer’s hanging up, lack of internet availability or slow internet. “Sometimes you can be filling your paperwork the system hangs up on you for unspecified period of time, meanwhile you cargo is awaiting clearance, this breakdown causes unnecessary delays. Sometimes the internet is off, you just cannot do anything, this should be worked on,” Byenkya said. He also pointed out that the issue of corruption is still high among the officials of Uganda Revenue Authority which together with wrong attitude of government employee is part of the many human challenge they face as traders. “You very well know if you need your things to move very fast you need to put something under the paperwork. People always want to eat.” Byenkya said. Stephen Magera, The Assistant Commissioner for Trade, who briefed the trader...

Kenya is yet to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with the European Union because of some outstanding issues. EPAs, which are an improvement of the Lome Conventions that date back to 1975, are expected to enhance the current preferential market access of Kenya’s products in the EU. The deal is also meant to promote competitiveness of target commodities, and to safeguard Kenya’s growing exports including flowers to the EU. In an interview with The Standard, Senior Assistant Director of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of EAC Affairs and Commerce, Eliazar Muga, said negotiations were ongoing to conclude discussions on outstanding issues. “We are optimistic that we will sign the agreement very soon. We last met in Brussels to iron out the outstanding issues and now we have been meeting in Arusha to table our findings,” said Muga. Kenya is negotiating the EPAs under the auspices of the East African Community-EU-EPAs arrangement. In 2007, the East African Community agreed to negotiate EPAs as a bloc. Among the outstanding issues that Kenya is yet to agree with the EU are duty and taxes on exports. “The EU does not want us to put taxes on our exports since our exports are mainly raw materials,” explained Muga. Source: Standard Digital

The qualms that had earlier arisen over Tanzania’s commitment towards the achievement of an East African Community are seemingly put aside following reports that the country has joined the Single Customs Territory (SCT). The questions stemmed from the decision by the governments of Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda to jointly fast track and implement infrastructure projects . As a result, a new word, ‘Coalition of the willing’ in reference to the three countries was coined. In a press statement issued by Vedastian Justinian, the Head of Communication at Tanzania’s Government Information Services Offices, the projects under deliberation by the ‘new coalition’ should have been endorsed first by all the EAC member countries. “This is notwithstanding the fact that the coalition of the three countries in exclusion of Tanzania and Burundi is being run under their respective foreign affairs dockets and not through the EAC secretariat,” the official is quoted by the media. Apparently Justinian said the communication was in response to the growing concern among the public that the activities being advanced by the three EAC member countries would isolate Tanzania. According to the statement, the official claimed that the Kenyan, Rwandan and Ugandan leaders were in contravention of Article 7(1) (e) of the EAC protocol. “Even though this Article allows member countries to enter bi-lateral or tri-lateral agreements, it is a must that issues under consideration for implementation under this arrangement are fully discussed and agreed upon by all member countries,” read the reports. However, it seems Tanzania and Burundi...

Rwanda’s trade with its neighbours is expected to grow following the signing of a $1m (about Rwf697m) funding deal to boost cross-border trade with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s main re-export market. The grant from Belgium and the UK (through Department for International Development – DFID) was extended through a contribution agreement under the TradeMark Africa Rwanda programme. The project dubbed “Linking East to West – Supporting Rwanda’s Trade Competitiveness with the EAC and DRC” – will reduce the cost and increase the value of trade between Rwanda and the DR Congo, Frank Matsaert, the TradeMark Africa (TMA) chief executive officer, said during the signing of the deal on Wednesday. Matsaert added that the 20-month programme also seeks to set up a cross-border market for informal trade on the Rwanda/DR Congo border, as well as improve the capacity of small and medium enterprises in Rwanda. “Under this project, we will negotiate with DR Congo to simplify its trade laws, carry out feasibility studies on how to create sustainable cross-border markets and support market linkages to enable Rwandan companies and farmers export more to DR Congo,” said Mark Priestley, the head of TradeMark Africa (TMA) Rwanda. François Kanimba, the minister for trade and industry, said government will take advantage of the support to draft an efficient cross-border strategy. “Such small investments could result in a dramatic increase in cross-border trade,” he said. “Increasing cross-border trade is one of the main priorities to bridge Rwanda’s burgeoning trade deficit. The DR...