ADDIS ABABA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday said his country would ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, giving a major boost to the continental economic initiative. The PM made the remark during the opening of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Addis Ababa. Ahmed said ratifying the AfCFTA agreement will boost intra-Africa trade and boost employment opportunities for Africa's predominantly young population. Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation at around 100 million people which also happens to be East Africa's largest economy, is home to the AU headquarters, making its expected ratification of AfCFTA especially significant. So far, Ghana and Kenya have ratified the Continental Free Trade Area, though 44 African countries have signed the AfCFTA document. A minimum of 22 countries need to ratify the AfCFTA document for it to come into force. Source: Xinhua News

KAMPALA, Uganda–A new monthly market report for the month of April   on East African grains indicates that prices for staple grains in East Africa remain relatively  stable  thanks to good supplies for  grains to the markets in the region. A report from the East African Grain Council titled “East Africa grain markets and trade” shows that during the month of Aprils 2018, prices for rice, sorghum, wheat and beans declined as comparedto the previous month. The report shows that for the month of April, a metric ton of maize in Kampala went for USD 194 in compared to the USD 191 in March.  In Nairobi, the price was USD 330 in March and 313 USD  in April , in Kigali the price for maize stood at USD  212 in March and USD  198 in April and in Dar es Salaam  a metric ton went at USD 267 in March and USD  266 respectively . For the case of red sorghum the price were as follows, Nairobi USD  492 in march  and USD  474 in April, in Kampala the price was USD  244 in March  and USD  239, for Nairobi the price decline by -3.7% and that of Kigali went down by -1.8%. In Burundi and Rwanda, domestic stocks eased pressure on demand resulting to the decline in prices as observed. However supply of rice remained tightened in the monitored markets with demand mainly met by supplies from the global market. Maize prices continued on a downward trend with Kampala recording the...

NAIROBI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is considering introducing a series of incentives in order to boost the country's exports earnings, the country's export agency said on Monday. Peter Biwott, the CEO of the Export Promotion Council (EPC), told a media briefing in Nairobi that the growth of exports has been declining in the past five years. "In order to reverse the trend of slowing growth of export earnings, we shall soon roll out incentives to enable local producers to penetrate international markets," Biwott said during a trade forum organized by EPC. Biwott said that the incentives include the formation of export fund, Export Import Bank as well as export guarantee schemes. Current incentives for manufacturers include the Export Processing Zones as well as Manufacturing under bond. According to the export agency, the incentives in place are not sufficient to enable exports to grow at the desired pace. Biwott said the incentives will enable small and medium enterprises to play a role in the export trade. He said that the export fund will also help Kenya to penetrate African markets especially in countries that are perceived to have political risk. "Kenya firms have in the past experienced revenue loss when they have exported goods to African countries that have later being affected by civil wars or undergone foreign exchange distress," he said. The EPC chief observed that the government will compensate firms that lose revenue if their foreign buyers don't remit payment. The CEO said that they will also provide...

While the U.S. and China are trying to outdo each other with import tariffs and the U.K. wants to break away from the European Union, African leaders are working on a free-trade agreement that will cover a whole continent. Talks to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area started in 2015 and while many signatures of the 55-member African Union are still outstanding, Ghana and Kenya on May 10 became the first countries to ratify the deal. Supporters dream that every nation on the continent will eventually join and create a trade bloc with a combined gross domestic product of more than $3 trillion. 1. What’s the African Continental Free Trade Area? It’s a project driven by the AU to eliminate tariffs on intra-Africa trade of goods and services and create a single continental market with free movement of business people. Intra-Africa trade currently stands at about 16 percent of the continent’s total, compared with 19 percent in Latin America and 51 percent in Asia. The agreement could increase this by half, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates. Joined together, the continent’s combined GDP would be almost the size of the Germany’s, which would give Africans a stronger voice in global trade negotiations, according to AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat. 2. What would the trade agreement do? Once implemented, the agreement would remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods. It will also pave the way for the establishment of a continental customs union. 3. Are there any...

Construction of Port Reitz and Moi International Airport access road, Thursday 10th May 2018. [Photo/KeNHA] Construction of Port Reitz and Moi International Airport access road has enhanced access, efficiency, and reduced congestion, as well as operating costs and improved the turnaround time at the Port of Mombasa, Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has said. Port Reitz road provides access to the Moi International Airport and a link to the 2nd container terminal at the Port of Mombasa to the Northern Corridor. The Government of Kenya and UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) through Trademark East Africa (TMA) jointly financed the road project at a cost of Sh5.2 billion. Traffic congestion at the area was identified as one of the key non-tariff trade barriers affecting businesses in the East Africa region, hence need to construct and expand the road. Construction of the road entailed expansion of the road to a dual carriageway in order to improve the existing Port Reitz and Moi International Airport access roads covering 6.4km in length. Improvement of traffic movement at intersections, construction of grade separated junctions at Magongo/Airport access road interchange and Airport access road/Port Reitz road interchange, providing Mombasa County with its first two grade separated interchange traffic intersections. Additional works undertaken entailed installation of road drainage facilities and sidewalks along Port Reitz road and Moi Airport access roads. The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) contracted China Wu Yi Co. Limited in JV with Howard Humphreys (EA) Limited and MultiScope Consulting Engineers Limited to undertake...

As the euphoria on the conclusion of the African Continental Free Trade Area ebbs, it is back to work for the negotiators, to complete unfinished business. The existential question now is: can the African Continental Free Trade Area actually happen? Can trade ever be done under this regime? There is still quite some work to complete before this can happen, which will require tact, foresight and good management. Africa’s presidents will next meet this July in Mali, just two months away, and expect to receive and adopt the outstanding instruments needed to complete the Agreement, namely, annexes setting out the details for trading in goods and services. The first priority of priorities is to complete these annexes, through legal scrubbing, which usually turns out not to be as easy as it might sound. The annexes cover the following areas: rules of origin, customs cooperation, trade facilitation, non-tariff barriers, technical standards, health standards, transit trade, trade remedies, and schedules of tariff concessions. There are three short annexes also for dispute settlement, which can be completed quickly: on panel working procedures, expert review and code of conduct for arbitrators and panellists. Should the law experts fail to complete the scrubbing at the ongoing long meetings, the African Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General who will meet in the first week of June this year, should prepare to do the heavy lifting. They will need to keep away from the hair-splitting that sometimes bogs down meetings between two or more lawyers, worse between lawyers...

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has dismissed a petition seeking the reinstatement of an appeal of the case on the Economic Partnership Agreement between the regional bloc and European Union. A Tanzanian, Mr. Castro Pius Shirima, filed the re-appeal on March 5 this year and hearing was scheduled for May 9. However, Mr. Shirima or his lawyer failed to appear before the court, forcing the judges to throw out the petition for abuse of court processes. Mr. Shirima moved to court in 2016 seeking EACJ to bar four East African Community member states from signing the EPA trade deal and the two that already had, stopped from proceeding with subsequent procedures. He argued that the deal contravened the EAC Treaty. Kenya and Rwanda had signed the EPA on September 1, 2016 deal but Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan declined. In July 2017, EACJ dismissed the case saying it did not find evidence that the EPA would cause irreparable economic loss or violation of the regional treaty. Mr. Shirima filed an appeal which was dismissed on February 15, 2018. He was not in court then. While dismissing the application to reinstate the appeal, the five-judge bench said the petition was misconceived. The court said the dismissal of the appeal in February was not because he failed to show up but because Mr. Shirima had amended documents contrary to court rules. Further, the judges said, he had failed to serve the respondents -- EAC member states and the Secretariat...

Chief justices from the East African Community have resolved to speed up cases involving trade disputes in order to support the regional process. The judicial bosses from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Zanzibar met in Nairobi last week to draft a framework where judiciaries in the region will cooperate, share experiences and expertise, harmonise jurisprudence and jointly confront challenges to the administration of justice in the region. “The process of regional integration, by its very nature, generates disputes between states, states and citizens and the judiciaries have stepped in to solve these peacefully and amicably,” said Uganda Chief Justice, Bert Katureebe. Whereas trade disputes take long to settle, the EAC summit of the Heads of State has recognised the problem and signed a protocol on extended jurisdiction. This allows the EACJ to receive and decide cases involving trade and investment matters emanating from the implementation of the Customs Union Protocol and the Common Market Protocol. The protocol is at various levels of ratifications in the partner states. “As judiciaries in East Africa, we are making interventions in our court processes that would also improve our countries’ ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index,” said Kenyan Chief Justice, David Maraga Among the bottlenecks to the administration of justice in the region are limited access to justice; limited resources for expanding courts which limits access to justice; lack of understanding on the workings of courts, which sometimes erodes public faith and confidence. Others are heavy case backlog; poverty in...

One of the agenda discussed by Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed during his state visits to Sudan and Kenya were integration of the countries with railway routes. Indeed the issue of linking coutries of the region with railway line is a vital issue as it plays an all rounded role in socio-economic and political development of the region. Railway transport has a history of more than a century in the Horn of Africa. Among the oldest railway lines of the region is the Ethio-djibouti railway line built during the colonial period. The old age train lines become shifting and expanding currently by the sovereign countries of the horn aiming at mutual economic development based on win-win strategy. Ethiopian Railways Corporation Communication Service Head Dereje Tefera stated that "Railway transport is the back bone of developed countries economy. It is the main source of development for the developed world and it carries their economy even at this time. The newly developed countries are also busy in expanding railway transport nationally and regionally, such as china and Brazil." According to Dereje railway transport is incomparable with other transports for economic development and for regional integration since it carries bulk of freight and passengers with in short period and low price. It is cost effective, cheap and fast. It facilitates people-to-people relations within and beyond borders of nations. It also strengthens both import and export trades nationally and regionally. Even though, it is costly in building, it delivers indispensable service for a long...

The maize deal signed between Kenya and Uganda has yielded no import with grain buyers arguing Kampala has no capacity to supply the agreed quantities. This puts the Ministry of Trade on the spot over the deal signed almost two months ago that would have seen Uganda export 6.6 million bags of maize into the country. It was inked between the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and the Uganda Grain Council and facilitated by the Ministry of Trade on behalf of Kenyan millers. Kenya was supposed to buy the maize at Sh2,050 per bag to plug a deficit that had triggered a rise in flour prices. Millers have confirmed they have not received any consignment from the land-locked neighbouring country. “I am not aware of any maize having been delivered to NCPB,” said Nick Hutchinson, chairman Cereal Millers Association and Unga Holdings chief executive. Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) said its survey indicated that there was no significant grain to import to Kenya under the government deal. “EAGC assessment in February showed there was not much maize in Uganda to be imported to Kenya and that the little that was there had been committed to other parties,” said Gerald Masila, executive director. Mr Masila added a lot of maize had been sold to traders in February under business-to-business arrangement between Kenyan traders and their Ugandan counterparts. The multibillion-shilling deal would have seen local millers pay Uganda Grain Council for delivery of cargo facilitated by the NCPB. EAGC argued that...