Local business leaders have decried the low level of penetration and application of ICT among the business community across the East African Community (EAC) saying that this was among the major impediments to doing business in the region. This was observed Thursday during a dialogue dubbed ICT for Business, which was organised by the East Africa Business Council (EABC) a regional body that brings together private sector associations and corporates from EAC partner states. The meeting was aimed at collecting views from business owners on the best approach that can be used to fast-track the adoption of ICT in their daily business dealings at the regional level. Dennis Karera, the vice chairman of the council said that though governments have championed the campaign on ICT penetration and adoption, there has been slow uptake in this area among the private sector across member states. “We are all aware of the benefits ICT can bring to our businesses from time-saving to being compliant with government regulations  like paying taxes on time but it is regrettable that still, you conduct business with someone and they invoice you using a pen,” he said. Karera also warned business leaders, that if they continue to shun ICT, it will be very difficult for their businesses to survive, saying that governments are striving to broaden the market through initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area. “We therefore have no option but to embrace ICT,” he said. Going forward, Daniel Murenzi, the Principal Information Technology Officer at...

Heads of State drawn from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are keen to see the incorporation of small and medium enterprises under the impending border-less trade on the continent. The leaders who were represented at the opening of COMESA’s high level business summit in Nairobi on Wednesday lay emphasis on the growth of the micro-enterprises who between themselves contribute to the largest share of jobs and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output. “Each government should have the political will to support SMEs as they wouldn’t be able to penetrate a continental market by themselves. Further, we risk developing a free market which only serves the big boys,” noted Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu. While the continent is adequately resourced with a hardworking and enterprising populace, trade between partner states has remained well below average as exports to the rest of the world remain dominant. Intra-trade within COMESA accounted for a mere Ksh.814 billion ($7.9 billion) in 2017 in comparison to a greater share of Ksh.9 trillion ($86.9 billion) in total global exports. Acting Mauritian President Paramasimuv Pillay attributed the depressive trade play-out to continued barriers to regional trade to further pile pressure on partner states who remain keen on sheltering their internal markets from any external influence. “We must promote policies and measures to better the business climate by, for instance, eliminating barriers to SME licensing. We can also seek to relax some of the rules of origin to enable enterprises to source for raw materials widely,” he...

NAIROBI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on Wednesday launched the COMESA Source 21 Business Facilitation Handbook to provide market information and investment for its members. Amany Asfour, immediate past chairperson of COMESA Business Council, told a regional forum in Nairobi that access to information across African economies has been hindered by the fragmented nature of respective national markets. "The handbook is the first step in combating lack of knowledge in the region and limited access to trade information in order to promote cross-border trade," said Asfour in Nairobi. The report details the amount of imports and exports that each member conducts within the trading bloc. "The business facilitation handbook will act as a tool to provide businesses with data that can inform their transaction and logistical costs while trading certain products in the region or looking to engage in partnerships within COMESA," said Asfour. She decried the low level of value addition in the region, adding that regional economies will prosper once processing and value addition of raw materials takes root. COMESA is a regional economic organization in Africa with 21 members. Source: xinhuanet

More than 500 open-air market traders have agreed to temporarily relocate to Kenya’s security strip at Soko Matope to pave way for construction of a modern fish market. They, however, appealed to the county and national governments to assure them of their security because they are going to operate on the Kenya-Uganda border.The county, through the World Bank, is set to start constructing a Sh60 million cross-border fish market at the Busia border after the contractor signed a tender agreement last Friday.According to officials in the department of Agriculture, the contractor is expected to take six months to complete the project, which will enable the traders operate in a conducive environment.The traders have been operating in makeshift structures and with no sewerage system since the market was started more than three decades ago.Market planBusia Cross-Border Fish Market Management Unit chairman Francis Akech praised the county government for prioritising the market's construction.“We have agreed to relocate to a temporary place for six months. We are glad that the county has assured us the new site will be guarded by our security officers,” said Mr Aketch.Aketch said the traders need clean water, toilets and electricity to ensure that they can preserve and store their fish.Busia fish market is one of the largest in East Africa and the county government is said to be collecting more than Sh50,000 in revenue from fish traders monthly.At least 30 tonnes of fish valued at Sh12 million, from Uganda and Lodwar in Turkana, are offloaded at the market...

The move is aimed at speeding up the clearance of goods and services as a way of promoting regional trade. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s Directorate of Customs and Excise (DGDA) and the Uganda Revenues Authority (URA) have signed the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS), a standards operating procedure that will extend electronic cargo tracking to DRC. The move is aimed at speeding up the clearance of goods and services as a way of promoting regional trade. The project worth $642,000 is being funded by the Department of International Development (DFID) through Trademark East Africa.DRC joins other East African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda already implementing the Electronic Cargo Tracking system (RECTS).   The project will be implemented in three phases with the first phase being the launch of the Uganda Office; the second phase will be opening of the Goma office in eastern DRC while the final phase will be the launch of the Kinshasa command center, according to  Moses Sabiiti, TMA’S Country manager for Uganda and South Sudan. “The introduction of an electronic cargo tracking system to the Northern Corridor will reduce transit costs, lengthy transit times caused by physical checks in transit countries and across the DRC territory,” said Sabiiti. He added that the system that was launched on Tuesday at URA offices, will reduce the risk of freight diversion between the place of origin and checkpoints hence combating fraud and increasing the country's tax revenues through trade. “For DRC, this is the best solution...

Nairobi — Deputy President Dr William Ruto wants Kenya to seize the opportunity of access to free trade area market so as to bridge the trade deficit it is facing. He said it was regrettable that despite trade volumes growing in recent years, it was not in favour of Kenya as it was importing more than it was selling to foreign markets. Addressing the Third Kenya Trade Week on Monday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Dr Ruto noted that Kenya must "act early and decisively to claim a strong position" in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a bloc of 1.3 billion people and $ 3.4 trillion. "To achieve this, it is important to develop a national strategy to guide our approach and it is my hope that the Ministry of Trade is already engaged on this task," said the Deputy President. He told the Summit trade is bedrock to the economic aspirations of the country, and as such, "it is vital that we explore all avenues to expand the reach and value of Kenyan products both within and without our borders." He further noted that it was through trade that Kenya, and Africa at large, would create jobs that is much needed for its growing population. According to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, the country's exports grew from Sh537 billion in 2014 to Sh613 billion in 2018, indicating a 14 per cent rise. During the same period, imports went up from Sh1.62 trillion in 2014...

After four years of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, paving the way for Sunday’s African Union summit in Niger where Ghana was announced as the host of the trade zone’s future headquarters and discussions were held on how exactly the bloc will operate. It is hoped that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1994 - will help unlock Africa’s long-stymied economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains and spreading expertise. “The eyes of the world are turned towards Africa,” Egyptian President and African Union Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at the summit’s opening ceremony. “The success of the AfCFTA will be the real test to achieve the economic growth that will turn our people’s dream of welfare and quality of life into a reality,” he said. Africa has much catching up to do: its intra-regional trade accounted for just 17 per cent of exports in 2017 versus 59 per cent in Asia and 69 per cent in Europe, and Africa has missed out on the economic booms that other trade blocs have experienced in recent decades. Economists say significant challenges remain, including poor road and rail links, large areas of unrest, excessive border bureaucracy and petty corruption that have held back growth and integration. Members have committed to eliminating tariffs on most goods, which will increase trade in the region by 15-25 per cent in the medium...

Kenya on Wednesday urged investors from east and south Africa to explore investment opportunities in the country's strategic sectors. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said during the launch of 21st COMESA International Trade Fair and High Level Business Summit that Kenya has created a friendly investment climate. Kenyatta said that Kenyan is a leader in imports and exports of agricultural, horticultural and floriculture products, making it a strategic area for investors in different sectors of the economy. He said the government has undertaken legal and policy reforms aimed at making Kenya one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. Kenyatta urged COMESA members to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to boost their socio-economic transformation. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic organization in Africa, with 21 members including Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, the Comoros, Libya, Seychelles, Uganda, Tunisia and Somalia. Source: Xinhau

Heads of State drawn from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are keen to see the incorporation of small and medium enterprises under the impending border-less trade on the continent. The leaders who were represented at the opening of COMESA’s high level business summit in Nairobi on Wednesday lay emphasis on the growth of the micro-enterprises who between themselves contribute to the largest share of jobs and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) output. “Each government should have the political will to support SMEs as they wouldn’t be able to penetrate a continental market by themselves. Further, we risk developing a free market which only serves the big boys,” noted Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu. While the continent is adequately resourced with a hardworking and enterprising populace, trade between partner states has remained well below average as exports to the rest of the world remain dominant. Intra-trade within COMESA accounted for a mere Ksh.814 billion ($7.9 billion) in 2017 in comparison to a greater share of Ksh.9 trillion ($86.9 billion) in total global exports. Acting Mauritian President Paramasimuv Pillay attributed the depressive trade play-out to continued barriers to regional trade to further pile pressure on partner states who remain keen on sheltering their internal markets from any external influence. “We must promote policies and measures to better the business climate by, for instance, eliminating barriers to SME licensing. We can also seek to relax some of the rules of origin to enable enterprises to source for raw materials widely,” he...

Speaking during the opening ceremony of Source 21 COMESA business summit, Kenyatta also urged the member states to explore different products that they could trade with and encouraged them to trade amongst themselves. “We need to come up with innovative and practical strategies to promote industrialization and enhance trade in our region,” Kenyatta said. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also urged COMESA member states to integrate its highly fragmented market and follow in the footsteps of China which despite having a huge internal market, continues to pursue other markets. “China has an internal market of 1.3 billion people, yet they are fighting for other markets. They are fighting with the US to get more market, yet we continue to be satisfied with a small market,” Museveni said. In 2017, Intra-COMESA trade exports hit USD 7,914 from USD 7,757 in 2016. In 2017, COMESA trade imports hit USD 8,243 a rise from USD 7,307 BACK IN 2016. Kenya is currently holding the Source 21 COMESA International Trade Fair and High – Level Business Summit under the theme “The Hallmark of Quality”. The summit also includes a presidential public-private round table where heads of states interact with business leaders on key strategies to enhance industry competitiveness and formulate strategies to enhance local sourcing and intra-regional trade. The event has attracted members of the COMESA region aimed at increasing trade across Africa and to international states. Source: Capital News