Summary Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the region’s economic growth was projected at more than 5 percent, well above the continent’s average of 3.3 percent and the global average of 2.9 percent in 2019. In March 2020, the pandemic disrupted global supply chains following introduction of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 such as closed borders, social distancing, partial and complete lockdowns. Unfortunately, small-scale cross-border trade collapsed from an average of $44 million in the first quarter of 2020 to $1.15 million by the end of November 2020 because of the Covid-19 restrictions such as lockdowns and curfews. It’s 23 years since the re-establishment of East African Community (EAC) and time to address what more we collectively need to do to realise the dream of East Africa being a prosperous and vibrant economic bloc. Our bloc is widely recognised as the most integrated and fastest growing regional economic bloc in Africa. It has been 17 years since the formation of the Customs Union and 12 years since the implementation of the Common Market protocol, and a tremendous amount has been done to win such accolades. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the region’s economic growth was projected at more than 5 percent, well above the continent’s average of 3.3 percent and the global average of 2.9 percent in 2019. It is expected to return to such high levels going forward. In March 2020, the pandemic disrupted global supply chains following introduction of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 such as closed...

The EAC is now among the state parties meeting the minimum requirements for Category A to start trading on a provisional basis under AfCFTA, as the zone is negotiating the AfCFTA rollout as a bloc. A ministerial council meeting on trade, industry, finance and investment in Arusha on Friday directed the EAC Secretariat to submit the Category A list to the AfCFTA Secretariat as soon as possible, while also asking the EAC Secretariat to convene an experts meeting by 15th April to consider categories B and C of the EAC tariff offer. The offers will now be subjected to verification by the AfCFTA Secretariat in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, with AfCFTA having so far verified 29 tariff offers to ensure that they meet the protocol framework modalities, with the EAC listing the number to 34 countries once the EAC offers are verified. Verification of the tariff offers will ensure that AfCFTA member states meeting the minimum requirements start trading under the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, officials said. Dr Kevit Desai, Kenya’s permanent secretary for EAC Affairs, said at a media briefing after chairing the ministerial council meeting that consultations will start on the determination of the maximum rate for the Common External Tariff (CET) for various products, in the wake of the EAC offer. The partner states need to consult stakeholders on the analysis undertaken by the EAC Secretariat on the proposed maximum CET rates and submit comments on the proposed maximum CET rates of 30 per cent,...

In 2020, South Sudan’s exports summed up to US$87 million to the EAC member states, while imports amounted to US$573 million They (traders) explained that the delayed implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory by South Sudan causes delays in cargo clearance at the border EABC urged the EAC secretariat to bring together more resources to support South Sudan to finalise the construction of a One-Stop Border Post Trade in East Africa The East African Business Council is persuading the Republic of South Sudan to fully implement the East African Community’s Single Customs Territory to accelerate Intra-EAC trade. Traders, transporters and clearing and forwarding agents spoke at the EABC-TMA Public-Private Dialogue at the Elegu/Nimule One-Stop Border Post. They explained that the delayed implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory by South Sudan causes delays in cargo clearance at the border. The traders and transporters noted that, at times, trucks await clearance up to two days in the parking lot. South Sudan joined the East African community joined the EAC in April 2016, after being the youngest nation to gain independence on July 9, 2011. In 2020, South Sudan’s exports summed up to US$87 million to the EAC member states, while imports amounted to US$573 million. In contrast to the year 2016, the exports and imports to the same stood at US$2.6 million and US$400 million respectively. According to the International Trade Center, South Sudan exported US$86 million and imported US$357 million from Uganda in 2020. The East Africa Business Trade Council urged...

Christophe Bazivamo, the Deputy Secretary General of East African Community (EAC) has raised concerns over delays in implementing and expanding portability of social health protection benefits among member states. Cross-border social benefit portability is the migrant’s ability to preserve, maintain, and transfer acquired social security rights from one private, occupational, or public social security scheme to another, independent of nationality and country of residence. The scheme means migrants can bring acquired social rights such as health insurance, retirement pensions among others from their host country back to their country of residence or from their country of residence to another country where they move to for labour. Bazivamo speaks during the opening of five-day  discussions on migration issues which have gathered Regional ministers in charge of EAC affairs, those of Internal Affairs Failing to enable such portability risks impeding international labor mobility or jeopardizing individuals’ ability to manage risk across their life cycle according to experts. The proposed scheme is priority number 7 of EAC Health Sector Investment Priority Framework running from 2018 to 2028 which requires over $2.7 million to be implemented. The framework requires expansion of health insurance coverage and social health protection. Each partner state should establish and expand their National Health Insurance and social protection schemes to support the Universal Health Coverage. The member states are required to implement and expand portability of such benefits of social health protection as part of the overall social protection agenda in support implementation of the EAC common market ideals. However, Bazivamo said that this is...

Dr Kevit Desai, Principal Secretary in Kenya’s East African Community and Regional Development ministry, said this at an EABC Trade Facilitation Forum held at the Taveta/Holili One-Stop Border Post on Kenya’s border with Tanzania. He lauded Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, current Chairman of the EAC Heads of State Summit, for bolstering the economic bloc’s regional integration agenda for businesses and East Africans to actualise prosperity. Dr Desai called for the enhancement of collective efforts towards trade facilitation and value addition to bolster manufacturing, appealing to East African businesspeople to “boldly tap into the markets of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)”. Sarah Keiya, Chairperson of Women Cross-Border Traders, meanwhile said that unharmonised measures on Covid-19 raise the cost of business operations. She cited the US$10 antigen test on the Tanzania side while on the Kenya side this is made free of charge. She also suggested that the EAC’s Simplified Trade Regime is yet to be implemented as fully as envisioned. EABC Executive Officer John Bosco Kalisa reported that the Taveta/Holili One-Stop Border Post cleared 33,000 cargo trucks last year, a 73 per cent increase from 19,000 the previous year. He said the increase in the volume of trade underscored the importance of eliminating non-tariff barriers for the quick recovery and resilience of the EAC economies amid Covid-19. Kalisa also called for a “green channel” for East African products at the border to boost trade and competitiveness of the region. He said that Holili/Taveta...

Summary The resource-rich country in the heart of Africa is expected to be officially admitted to the East African Community later this month – earlier than previously thought – becoming the newest member of the regional bloc Arusha. Despite the security challenges in its eastern jungles, the DR Congo is set to become the newest member of the East African Community (EAC). The resource-rich country in the heart of Africa will join the six-nation bloc later this month: earlier than previously thought. The likelihood of the EAC becoming a seventh member came on the heels of the recent conclusion of detailed negotiations in Nairobi. “The negotiations were concluded and a negotiation framework matrix jointly adopted,” a source at the EAC said. Adoption of the matrix discussed for two weeks in Nairobi last month technically clears the road of the country’s entry into the bloc. Admission of a new member is the prerogative of the EAC Summit of Heads of State, the supreme organ of the Community. The Council of Ministers, another powerful organ, has recommended the admission of DRC into the bloc “in accordance with the Treaty”. A source at the EAC Secretariat hinted that the regional leaders are likely to meet at the end of this month specifically for the purpose. “If the summit is to take place, it would not be earlier than the end of February” a source intimidated to The Citizen. During an EAC ministerial meeting held virtually on Tuesday last week, the ministers recommended for prompt...

John Bosco Kalisa, chief executive officer for the East African Business Council (EABC) said yesterday that Kenya’s imports from Tanzania stood at $501m and exports reached $403.9m, on the basis of EAC customs data. At an EABC trade facilitation forum at the Namanga one-stop border post (OSBP) he applauded presidents Samia Suluhu Hassan and Uhuru Kenyatta for eliminating the nauseating barriers, at the forum supported by the German development cooperation group GIZ, which operates the ‘Supporting East African market-driven and people-centred integration’ (SEAMPEC) programme. The Namanga OSBP Kenya o station manager said the number of trucks cleared daily at the border has increased threefold to 250 compared those crossing the border in May 2020. However, leaders of the freight forwarders association urged the separation of the Import Declaration Form (IDF) from the Integrated Customs Management System (ICMS) for Kenya and set up a permanent cargo scanner at the border to facilitate rapid clearing of vehicles. Daniel Wainaina, the chairman of the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA), said the clearing cost of cargo on the Kenyan side has increased by 70 percent due to multiple processes and departments. For 20metric tonnes of cargo, the clearing cost is approximately $200 which results in lower competitiveness, he stated. Gerald Masila, the East African Grain Council CEO, said the council spearheaded the development of EAC harmonized standards on grains and cereals, common standards on sampling and testing, to boost cross-border trade of cereals. The traders called for more staff to be deployed...

The neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo has great trade potential with Rwanda, with data from recent years showing growing trade and currently is Rwanda’s biggest regional trading partner. The latest World Bank report on Rwanda themed ‘Boosting regional trade integration in the post-Covid era’ observed that DRC is a growing trade opportunity for Rwanda. Exports have grown considerably in the last decade, analysts said adding that Rwanda exports to DRC are more than to East African Community countries combined. By 2019, Rwanda had exported more goods to the DRC than to the EAC. The main exports to the DRC include livestock and crops, but cross-border trade in services, such as finance, transportation, and wholesale trading, are also important, the report noted in part. Non-EAC neighboring markets have proved to be more dynamic in recent years, the report noted, adding that it’s expected to grow especially in the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area. This is also at a time when statistics from the World Bank show that since 2012 Rwanda’s exports to the East African Community have somewhat stagnated. Data shows that when Rwanda joined the EAC customs union in 2009, exports of goods to EAC partners more than doubled in the following three years to 23 per cent of the country’s total goods exports. However, since 2012 Rwanda’s exports to the EAC have almost stagnated with Rwanda’s total exports increasing substantially on average 17 per cent per year from 2010-19. Analysts say that this has seen the...

Summary More often than not, the barriers are imposed with be objective of protecting the imposing country’s producers of the traded goods, mostly for the domestic market. Non-tariff barriers include – but are not limited to – import quotas/bans, subsidies for domestic producers, protectionism and other technical barriers. A recent dialogue between major business stakeholders from both the public and private sectors of the economy established that trade barriers are still a major challenge within the East African Community (EAC). The event, which was conducted at the Mutukula border crossing between Tanzania and Uganda, was jointly organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) and Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), and brought together some 50 participants. What with one thing leading to another, the dialogue definitively concluded that both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers (TTBs and NTBs) continue to be a real barrier not only to cross-border trade, but also to intra-regional investment flows within the six EAC member countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Apparently, these negative developments are continuing in the regional economic integration bloc despite recent efforts by national governments – acting either singly or jointly in some cases – to alleviate the adverse situation, doing so mainly through policy and regulatory interventions. Generally speaking, trade barriers come in the forms of tariff or non-tariff measures that are imposed by national governments with the major purpose of restraining trade with other countries. More often than not, the barriers are imposed with be objective...

The first series of the East African Community Capacity Building Sessions for Plant Health Inspectors on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to operationalize Pest Risk Analysis in the region concluded at Mutukula One Stop Border Post (OSBP) located on the Uganda/Tanzania border. The five capacity building workshops conducted at the OSBPs of Namanga (Kenya/Tanzania), Malaba (Kenya/Uganda), Kabanga-Kobero (Tanzania/Burundi), Rusumo (Tanzania/Rwanda), and Mutukula (Tanzania/Uganda) were aimed at creating awareness amongst plant health inspectors on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for inspecting maize, beans, and rice for pests of phytosanitary importance in the EAC. The workshops were also meant to facilitate the implementation of the SOPs at all the EAC border posts and identify any challenges that might be associated with the implementation of the SOPs. Speaking during the closing session of the of the workshop at Mutukula, the EAC Director of Productive Sectors, Mr. Jean Baptiste Havugimana, on behalf of the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, thanked USAID Kenya/East Africa (USAID/KEA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-FAS) for their generous financial and technical support towards supporting food safety in the region. Mr. Havugimana reaffirmed EAC’s commitment to work closely with the Partner States and key Development Partners to mobilize additional resources to scale up the training to other OSBPs and address the identified gaps and actions towards the elimination of trade related Phytosanitary barriers for the three commodities (maize, rice and beans) in the EAC. Mr. Havugimana assured Partner States that the Secretariat would mobilize...