East African Community and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed has said the five countries that make up the regional bloc are committed to full integration. Speaking in Mombasa on Wednesday, Mr Mohammed said the five member states were working to remove obstacles to full integration. "A key part of our ongoing deliberations is how to have legislators working towards supporting the integration process," he said on the sidelines of a meeting convened by the Parliamentary Select Committee on regional integration. "I will not pay much attention to teething problems facing the integration. We are working well with all member states." Country's exports Mohammed said the East African Community (EAC) was important for Kenya because it absorbed up to 25 per cent of the country's exports. "I wish to stress that as a country we are committed to EAC. We want to make sure that previous work and achievements in the integration processes benefit all." The CS said the integration targeted a border-less EAC. "Going forward, we aspire for a political federation." The House committee called for measures to ensure that the country remained competitive in trade even after integration. “Regional integration has some bearing on our country but we are going to come up with measures to ensure that no country overtakes us in trade while at the same time protecting foreign investors," said Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda.   Source Standard Media

NAIROBI, KENYA —  An international money transfer company has launched an online service for East Africans to send and receive money more easily. Analysts say WorldRemit will lower the cost of transferring money and boost African trade and economies. Africa has become a thriving market for money transfer companies as its telecommunication facilities improve and its economies grow. WorldRemit, a British-based money transfer company, recently launched a new digital service in four East African countries. The company facilitates the transfer of at least $1.6 billion to Africa each year. The co-founder and the head of WorldRemit, Ismail Ahmed, told VOA how money transfers in Africa have changed over the years. “When we launched our services, 99 percent of remittances were cash both on the sending and receiving side. But today that is changing fast and in the next few years we think as much as 50 to 60 percent of international remittances would move from traditional physical cash, traditional remittances, to digital. And that’s why our services has grown very fast in the last few years,” he said. Ahmed said that as transactions become digital, the cost of each transfer comes down, and tracking money becomes easier. “It’s easier for businesses and individuals to move within countries but also across countries. It’s easier to fight financial crime because once the transaction becomes digital, there is an audit trail compared to cash where there is no audit trail," he said. Gerrishon Ikiara is an international economic affairs lecturer at the University...

BEIJING/CAIRO -- China is seeking to further expand trade with Africa as a way to reduce risk from the U.S. trade dispute, a strategy made clear at a two-day summit ended Tuesday in Beijing. "Expanding imports from Africa helps spread the risk presented by the U.S.-China trade war," an employee of a Chinese state-owned oil major told Nikkei. At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the two sides adopted a joint statement and a three-year action plan, laying out plans to deepen cooperation in various fields. The leaders from both sides have "reached significant common ground and spoken with one voice on all major issues," Chinese President Xi Jinping told reporters at the closing of the event. Priority areas of cooperation include boosting trade, nurturing African industry and strengthening security. During Tuesday's session, Xi also stressed the importance of opposing protectionism and supporting free trade, an implicit reference to the go-it-alone attitude of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Xi called on African leaders to work together for both sides to develop and prosper together. For China, Africa's biggest trading partner, the value of trade with the continent for the January-July period grew 20% year-on-year, with imports jumping 30% to $56.8 billion and exports to Africa climbing 10% to $59.3 billion. China imported more crude oil from Angola and other countries in an apparent effort to compensate for declining imports of natural gas from the U.S. amid the two powers' mutual hiking of tariffs, as well as Washington's move to impose sanctions on Iranian crude oil. In 2017, about 40% of China's crude oil imports came from...

There is disquiet at the Port of Mombasa and the quiet storm is shortly coming ashore. The Container Freight Stations (CFSs) are facing eminent closures due to direct ferrying of inbound cargo by the SGR into the modernised Nairobi Inland Container Depot (ICD). Is the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) — both government institutions — competing with the private sector? The SGR-deal seems to contain cryptic clauses that are clearly latent to a majority of Kenyans. Being a public good that Kenyans are heavily indebted, its function to facilitate trade should be paramount. Seeing that the freight being ferried by the SGR belong to private entities, the contractual terms and conditions in the bills of lading at the ports of origin need to be respected if not strictly adhered to. While the government can introduce policy and change both legal and regulatory frameworks within the logistics industry, such amendments should be considerate of the already existing structures, processes and functions. Containerisation has revolutionised maritime shipping and port terminal operations and supported the substantial growth in international transoceanic trade over the last decades. Aside from politics, indeed the Port of Mombasa (and its hinterland) has not reached its optimal potential as the regional port of choice within East and Central Africa. It only lacks viable and rigorous competition from Dar es Salaam etc. Effective regionalisation of the Port of Mombasa would make the owners of the CFSs go to sleep without worrying about the ongoing play...

Around the same time last week, Germany’s Angela Merkel and the UK’s Theresa May visited countries in Africa. But the timing of the visits from leaders of two of Europe’s leading economies was conspicuous as, starting today (Sept. 3), nearly all African leaders will attend the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing where China is expected to, once again, dole out large loan packages. For their part, Merkel and May had their own goals too. While they came bearing gifts, in the long run, they will be hoping for reciprocal benefits. Merkel’s talks at each of her three stops in Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria focused on stemming the flow of migrants heading to Europe in search of a better life. The German chancellor, with nearly a dozenGerman CEOs in tow, pressed for increased investment to create jobs which will offer locals viable livelihoods and disincentivize migration. And she had some success: German car giant Volkswagen announced plans to expand operations in both Ghana and Nigeria promising more investment and jobs in two of West Africa’s largest economies. But there’s a political upside for Merkel too. Having come under pressure for her handling of the growing migrant influx in Germany, reversing the trend will be crucial for her party during the next federal elections. British prime minister Theresa May was more unabashed about the purpose of her first ever Africa tour with stops in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. As Brexit looms, May is looking to “deepen and strengthen” the UK’s “global partnerships,” even if it requires busting out awkward dance moves. May signed trade deals,...

African countries have shown a healthy appetite for Chinese loans but some experts now worry that the continent is gorging on debt, and could soon choke. The Entebbe-Kampala Expressway is still something of a tourist attraction for Ugandans, nearly three months after it opened. The 51km (31 mile), four-lane highway that connects the country's capital to the Entebbe International Airport was built by a Chinese company using a $476m (£366m) loan from the China Exim Bank. It has cut what was a torturous two-hour journey through some of Africa's worst traffic into a scenic 45-minute drive into the East Africa nation's capital. Uganda has taken $3bn of Chinese loans as part of a wider trend that Kampala-based economist Ramathan Ggoobi calls its "unrivalled willingness to avail unconditional capital to Africa". "This debt acquired from China comes with huge business for Chinese companies, particularly construction companies that have turned the whole of Africa into a construction site for rails, roads, electricity dams, stadia, commercial buildings and so on," the Makerere University Business School lecturer told the BBC. The Chinese loans come as many African countries are once again in danger of defaulting on their debts more than a decade after many had their outstanding borrowing written off. At least 40% of low-income countries in the region are either in debt distress or at high risk, the International Monetary Fund warned in April. Chad, Eritrea, Mozambique, Congo Republic, South Sudan and Zimbabwe were considered to be in debt distress at the end...

Chinese President Xi Jinping offered another $60 billion in financing for Africa on Monday and wrote off some debt for poorer African nations, while warning against funds going towards “vanity projects”. Speaking at the opening of a major summit with African leaders, Xi promised development that people on the continent could see and touch, but that would also be green and sustainable. China has denied engaging in “debt trap” diplomacy, and Xi’s offer of more money comes after a pledge of another $60 billion at the previous summit in South Africa three years ago. Xi, addressing leaders at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, said the new $60 billion will include $15 billion of aid, interest-free loans and concessional loans, a credit line of $20 billion, a $10 billion special fund for China-Africa development, and a $5 billion special fund for imports from Africa. Chinese companies will be encouraged to invest no less than $10 billion in the continent in the next three years, he said. Government debt from China’s interest free loans due by the end of 2018 will be written off for indebted poor African countries, as well as for developing nations in the continent’s interior and small island nations, Xi said. “China-Africa cooperation must give Chinese and African people tangible benefits and successes that can be seen, that can be felt,” he said. China will carry out 50 projects on green development and environmental protection in Africa, focusing on fighting climate change, desertification and wildlife protection, Xi...

China-Africa partnership catalyses sustainable development, a senior United Nations official said. The win-win cooperations, between African countries and China “will put Africa on a sustainable development pathway,” Ahunna Eziakonwa, assistant administrator and director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Program, told Xinhua in an interview. Eziakonwa will join the delegation led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Sept. 3-4. During the interview, she named the railway connecting landlocked Ethiopia with Djibouti, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway in Kenya, the hydropower plants in Uganda and some other major Chinese-assisted infrastructure projects in Africa, saying China-Africa cooperation has entered the fast lane. China and Africa have a long history of cooperation, which has greatly intensified in the past decade, especially in the last five years, she said. It is exciting to see Africa making incredible developments with China, she added.  Africa has received help from many countries, yet its relationship with China has unleashed explosive growth in the region, she said. China’s development experience is relevant to Africa, she said, adding that Chinese investments in Africa, especially those in infrastructure, have ignited hope for the region. “Having been at a similar development point in history gives a lot of developing and emerging economies hope for transformation, accelerated human development and innovation,” Eziakonwa said. The 2015 FOCAC held in South Africa witnessed an agreement between China and Africa to carry out 10 major cooperation plans. These plans will help the...

President Paul Kagame has described the existing relationship between China and Africa as one based on equality, mutual respect and “a commitment to a shared wellbeing.” The Head of State was addressing leaders from across Africa and China at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit that is underway in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The forum, seventh of its kind, is a platform where all African countries and China meet periodically to see how to collectively strengthen ties with an aim of building a shared future. “The relationship between Africa and China is based on equality, mutual respect, and a commitment to shared well-being. This was our starting point eighteen years ago, when the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was established,” said President Kagame, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union. According to the President, ever since the first forum, China’s actions have demonstrated that a stronger Africa is seen as an opportunity to invest in, rather than as a problem or a threat. “China has continued to lead the way in showing what is lost in not engaging and partnering with Africa,” he said. The President said that the Forum has grown into a powerful engine of cooperation, fully aligned with Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Since its establishment 18 years ago, FOCAC has achieved a significant mark of China-Africa cooperation, with trade volume between China and Africa amounting to 170 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. This represents a major increase from the just over...

Arusha. Tunduma border post between Tanzania and Zambia is being upgraded into a One Stop Border Post (OSBP) to fast-track increased movement of people and goods. It will operate along the same pattern as the recently opened 15 similar border posts already established within the East African Community (EAC) bloc. Two other jointly operated border posts linking the region with neighbouring blocs are being set up at Moyale along the Kenya/Ethiopia border and Gisenyi on Rwanda/DR Congo boundary. "New OSBPs are being established to link the Community with other blocs because our trade is not limited to East Africa", said Stephen Analo from the EAC secretariat. He told officials from Tanzania and Kenya manning the Sirari/Isebania border route last week that EAC the new unified borders would play the same role; enhancing trade. "If we don't enhance trade with our neighbours, we will end up with goods clogged at outer borders", he said at the end training of the officials manning border operations. Mr. Analo, a tax expert, urged officers from the two countries where such facilities are being set up to cooperate fully so as to tap in the benefits of unified border operations such as increased tax collections. "Integrated border coordination is not a foreign concept. It is the same all over the world", he said, noting that they are necessary due to increased movement of goods, services and people across EA borders. At the jointly operated border posts, Immigration, Customs, bureaux of standards, phytosanitary inspections, goods clearance...