African countries have been urged to carefully analyze global lessons and think beyond short-termism so as to effectively tap into the benefits offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement. The latest call was made by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), an African non-profit organization, as it stressed that "global lessons show that for AfCFTA to work, the continent's leaders must think beyond short-term election cycles." The ISS, in its latest publication on Thursday entitled "Can African leaders put free trade above nationalism?" also noted that the signing of the continental free trade pact "couldn't have come at a better time for the continent," emphasizing some of the latest developments in the global trade relations. According to the institute, the collective effort required to get 54 of the 55 African Union (AU) member countries to sign the AfCFTA, "particularly on a continent divided by disparate political agendas, short-termism and sporadic diplomatic standoffs, shouldn't be underestimated." "While the agreement is lauded as an African solution to African problems, it is worth remembering the pitfalls of those who've traveled a similar journey to avoid the same mistakes. This is even more important as trade agreements worldwide show signs of unraveling," the ISS said. Noting that trade relations in Europe were forged over decades following World War II to counteract the factors that caused the war, and collaborate for sustained economic growth and prosperity. Reaching agreement was an arduous process, the ISS stressed that "Africa seeks the same outcome in...

Speaking during a Regional meeting on “Capacity Building Coordination for Enhanced Maritime Security in the West Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and Donor Forum”at a Mombasa hotel, defense Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said progress has been made to enhance Maritime domain awareness through multi agency collaboration. “I have observed directly the benefits that have accrued from the Maritime code of conduct appended in Djibouti by member states geared towards near eradication of piracy,” said Omamo. She added that there was need to leverage on cross border collaboration in support of integrated maritime security approach to ensure success in information sharing within the expanded scope of maritime crime. CS Omamo observed that Kenya is committed to meeting the maritime framework expectations and implementation of the Jeddah amendments that allows for organized dialogue and decision making to enable the region procress its maritime security agenda. She called on the donor agencies to input new capabilities to confront maritime challenges including illegal fishing and drug trafficking saying this will rob the African continent off a generation. The CS pleaded with donors to align their support to the regional needs to win the war on piracy which is a global problem. “Young desperate Africans brought piracy into the west of Indian ocean. We plead for convergence of interests in getting rid of unregulated fishing, drug trafficking and ability to deal with disasters,” said CS Omamo. She noted that 90 per cent of the world trade is transported through the sea and it was...

Kenya has gone slow on an import rule that requires mandatory inspection of goods at the source, handing a major reprieve to small- scale traders. Trade Secretary Peter Munya said the rule was no longer compulsory and that importers are free to ship goods to be inspected locally “to ease delays and reduce the high cost of doing business”. In January, Mr Munya ordered the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) to stop inspecting cargo at entry ports and directed all importers to shift to the Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards (PVOC). All consignments on the PVOC arrive in Kenya after undergoing mandatory inspection at the market of origin by one of the five firms hired by Kebs and stationed in various parts of the world to perform quality checks. The firms include Cotecna Inspection SA, Bureau Veritas and Intertek International. Last year, Kebs indefinitely suspended China Certification and Inspections Group Company and Société Générale de Surveillance SA of Switzerland on allegation of approving import of sub-standard goods. “It has been a huge problem for small- scale traders for their goods to be cleared by foreign standards bodies. We have now reviewed the decision so that it is not compulsory to test the goods at the country of origin,” Mr Munya told Parliament yesterday. Appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Trade, Mr Munya said the Kebs-hired inspectors will henceforth work alongside the national quality inspectors of countries of origin. The State had contracted private agencies to check goods for...

Arusha. The secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be operationalised in March, next year. The agreement came into force on May 30, this year, after it was ratified by the required 22 African Union (AU) countries. This was revealed here on Monday at the start of a symposium on the trade agreement which attracted scholars and experts from across the continent. The secretariat of the intra-African trade body will be established in Accra, Ghana as appointment of the secretary general is underway. “Structure and budget of the secretariat has been approved”, said Dr. David Luke, the coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre based in Addis Ababa. He said it has been proposed that AfCFTA establish office in each state party; countries which have signed and ratified the agreement. Source: The Citizen

Lesotho is considering direct trade with Kenya for the tea commodity. Speaking at the Ngorogo Tea Factory, in Kiambu, Minister for Agriculture and Food Security in Lesotho Simon Litsane said they would collaborate with management at Ngorongo tea and the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya in the tea business. His counterpart in the Ministry of Trade and other senior members of the Kingdom of Lesotho government accompanied Litsane who led the delegation. “Lesotho doesn’t grow tea we are amazed at what you Kenyans are doing, our government is interested in introducing black tea in our market and we are ready to learn more”, he said. CBC will exacerbate economic inequality and burden parents He said they would in the future invite the management at Ngorongo to test their soil if it is viable for tea plantation. Also, he said that the investment would create jobs for the youth. Gorongo Tea Factory General Manager George Mugo said they were excited that Lesotho government would be considering introducing Kenyan tea trade directly from the factory to Lesotho market without any intermediaries. “In collaboration with the Kenya intercontinental free trade market, we have discussed an open trading window where we can export both tea in bulk in value-added form”, He said. The tea will reach Lesotho while very fresh and the country will be able to sell it. Besides, he said Lesotho had the Potential as a new market niche. Kenya is the leading exporter of tea globally. Lesotho relies on tea from...

East African countries are progressively improving their policy frameworks governing trade, but governments need to do more to improve the business environment as a whole, according to the second edition of the African Union Commission’s (AUC) economic report produced in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre. Governments in the region are adopting a series of pro-trade reforms to reduce barriers to trade and improve the overall trade environment. In 2019, at the time of writing, most countries in the region had outperformed the sub-Saharan Africa average for trading across borders, says Africa’s Development Dynamics (AfDD) 2019 report released Tuesday. However, while some countries like Mauritius, Rwanda and Kenya outperform others in the Ease of Doing Business rankings overall, more countries in the region require additional work to improve the overall business climate. “Complex and burdensome business procedures in many countries undermine efforts to promote business linkages, cross-border firm networks and regional value chains,” the report says. It says regional integration is a contentious political process to manage and should be deployed tactfully to promote an environment conducive to transforming the economy’s productive structure. “Regional integration exposes businesses to outside influences, opportunities and competition. This can trigger resistance or hesitation among certain stakeholders that fear economic disruption.” It adds that regional integration initiatives also carry enormous potential for economic and social benefits to ordinary citizens and domestic private sector operators alike. I t says: “A tactful approach with carefully selected initiatives should be deployed as...

The government is mulling a shift from the policy requiring goods to be cleared in the port of origin before being exported into the country. The move could be a relief to small scale traders who have been waiting for days for their goods to be cleared for entry into the country. To achieve this, Trade CS Peter Munya said that there are discussions at advanced levels to merge the standards agencies to create a more proactive verification organisation. The Kenya Copyright Board, Pharmacy and Poisons Board, as well as Kenya Industrial Property Institute (Kippi) among other standards agencies may be affected in the proposed changes. The CS said the proposal is before the Standards Council and it would be approved by the Cabinet in good time to save traders from the long wait. “This will strengthen the institutions to have them work in tandem with further reforms which involve incorporating the ACA in the inspection of goods coming into the country. “These reforms have been in the works for some time. We have concluded the report which we will soon present to Parliament,” the CS added. He further revealed that the government is setting up the Kenya Trade Remedy Agency (Ketra) to deal with goods from outside the country that are not properly priced. The agency will also check for substandard or subsidised goods such as cheap milk and cases of dumping. Munya said this will be a departure from the chaotic situation at the port where multiple agencies...

Despite a steady increase in coffee consumption around the world, trade prices have fallen dramatically in the past three years, hitting producers. At the same time, the cost of an espresso or latte remains as full-fat as ever. What's going on? Futures on arabica and robusta, the most widespread varieties of coffee, have fallen 40 percent since the beginning of 2017 and are now at historically low levels. This is largely because of bumper harvests in Brazil, the world's main coffee producer. But at the same time, consumption has grown by an average of 2.1 percent a year for the past decade, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO). Two billion cups of coffee are drunk every day, according to Fairtrade International, which works to improve the lot of farmers through better pricing and conditions. The crisis in prices is beginning to create "real structural problems" for producers, said Valeria Rodriguez, a manager at fairtrade organisation Max Havelaar France. "The consequences are terrible - they can no longer support themselves, invest in production or prepare for the challenges of climate change," she said. Supplier woes In Central and South America, many smaller producers in Africa and Latin America are giving up in particular those who grow arabica, which is more difficult to produce than the robusta variety favoured in Asia, according to Jack Scoville, a futures markets analyst with Price Group. A similar trend is observable in Africa for reasons ranging from high production costs in Kenya to insecurity in...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will use its newly ramped-up capital base to help boost private sector investment on the continent and invest in infrastructure projects that support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). These are some of the plans the bank has for the additional $115bn (R1.7-trillion) recently approved by its shareholders, according to the bank’s vice-president for finance and CFO, Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala. At the end of October, the bank’s shareholders agreed to more than double its capital base, the largest increase in the bank’s history, taking the total to $208bn. “We are looking to do more private sector activities and investments in support of the African continental free trade agreement because you need companies to actually trade with each other,” she said. The bank will also ramp up efforts to support African entrepreneurs, particularly women and young people. Tshabalala was speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum, which closed in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The forum is designed as a deal-making platform and marketed 56 transactions from across the continent to international and regional investors. Investment interest was secured for deals worth $40.1bn, up from the previous year’s $38.7bn. The capital boost will provide the bank with “additional risk capacity” to support and crowd in investment by the private sector, particularly in low-income and fragile countries that have been neglected in the past, she said. This will include the use of instruments that help mitigate risks for private investors, including the bank’s co-guarantee platform. The...

The introduction of Entebbe-Mombasa direct flight by Uganda Airlines is set to boost trade and tourism between Kenya and Uganda as the route will cut the previous flight journey time by more than a half. The 110-minutes flight trip would play a vital role to thousands of Uganda traders who depend on the Port of Mombasa to do business considering more than 85 per cent of Uganda imported cargo pass through the port. The route will add value to travellers who used to spend more than three to four hours to fly from Entebbe connecting in Nairobi to Mombasa. Mombasa is an important city for Uganda and the East African region as the port is a logistical lifeline for the greater hinterland as a much-sought -after tourism spot and the new air link would be a perfect boost for business travellers, traders and holiday makers and it will be a great opportunity for coastal tourism to link up with Uganda, the pearl of Africa. The Ugandan Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft introduced on the direct flight to Mombasa from Entebbe landed in Mombasa on Monday, making it the second Kenyan city where the airline operates following an earlier launch of operations to Nairobi on August 27 this year. Uganda Airlines manager ground operations Harvey Kalama said the flights will ease doing business considering Ugandans play a big role in port business and in Mombasa tea trade auction. “We expect our clients to enjoy promotional flights in the next three months during holiday...