THE East African Community (EAC) is now eyeing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in capitalizing trading opportunities with other regional blocs. EAC’s Director General in charge of Customs and Trade, Mr Kenneth Bagamuhunda said here yesterday that the regional intergovernmental organization is hinging on the free trade agreement as a way of removing trade barriers on the continent. Mr Bagamuhunda who was speaking at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the East African Business Council (EABC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) sensitization workshop on the envisaged AfCFTA, disclosed that the regional economic bloc was ready to embrace and implement the agreement in enhancing trade with other continental blocs. According to Mr Bagamuhinda, the EAC has prerequisite provisions that could cushion the implementation of the initiative come July 1, this year. “The EAC is the only economic bloc with provisions on non-tariff barriers and laws on standard of products, the community has taken the lead in putting in place a sound policy environment ahead of the agreement,” said the EAC official who was representing the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Libérat Mfumukeko at the workshop. The EAC’s Director General in charge of Customs and Trade further said that EAC had registered significant step in matters of integration, urging other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to follow suit. “We, at the EAC have realized a deeper integration, it suffices to say that we are AfCFTA’s mini lab,” he explained. Despite registering major strides in integration, Mr Bagamuhunda...

East Africa received a combined sum of $2.96b in foreign direct investment (FDI) from China between 2011 and 2017, according to data from the China-Africa Research Initiative. The findings contained in data compiled by China-Africa Research Initiative, under the John Hopkins University, which tracks the country’s activities in Africa signals China’s increased interest in the East African region that continues to be a key recipient of the Asian country’s investments. The data, which was sourced from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), indicates that Kenya, which received $1.3b had the largest share of FDI from China followed by Tanzania, which received $890m between 2011 and 2017. Uganda, which has in the last five years become a key Chinese partner, received $536m, mainly in the energy, transport and communication sectors. However, Chinese companies with construction projects in Uganda have in the last 20 years seen rising earnings grossing about $8.7b (Shs32.6 trillion) in the last 20 years. Burundi received a total of $9.91m while South Sudan and Rwanda received $39m and 18m, respectively in the period under review. The $2.96b, according to the data, is a huge growth from the $307.76m, which the region received between 2004 and 2010. During the period, Kenya received $166.38m in FDI followed by Tanzania, which grossed $76.82m in the period. Rwanda received $38.22m, while Uganda and Burundi received $25.65m and $0.69m, respectively. South Sudan, which was then still part of Sudan, did not receive any FDI from China. East Africa has in the...

Continuing the discussions from the Addis Conference, the Geneva Forum addressed the trade-related aspects and challenges of food safety. The food safety priorities set by this Conference facilitated global collaboration and help ensure that no one is left behind. Its provided an opportunity for participants to explore the challenges and opportunities arising from rapid technological change and digitalization, namely: the use of new technologies in the realm of food safety and trade; how trade in safe food can be facilitated at the borders; multi-stakeholder coordination and the role of partnerships; harmonizing food safety regulation in a period of change and innovation. The conference will result in a document summarizing key issues and recommendations from both, the Addis Conference and the Geneva Forum, to better align and coordinate efforts to strengthen food safety systems across sectors and borders. Extracts of the programme: Addressing the economic burden of foodborne disease Delia Grace, Co-Leader, Animal and Human Health, International Livestock Research Institute Aligning national food safety policies to promote food security Angela Parry Hanson Kunadu, Lecturer, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Ghana Overview of the Addis Ababa Conference Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko (see picture), African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Synergies between food safety and trade facilitation Elizabeth Murugi Nderitu, Acting DirectorStandards and SPS, TradeMark Africa Source: PAEPARD

24 April 2019, DJIBOUTI (Djibouti): The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) welcomes the recent decision by the Government of Belgium to recognise diplomatic and service passports issued by the Federal Government of Somalia. The following statement was issued today by the IGAD Executive Secretary. IGAD Executive Secretary Ambassador Mahboub Maalim notes that the move will significantly boost bilateral relations between Somalia and Belgium and facilitate Somalia government officials to engage with European Union institutions based in Brussels. Ambassador Maalim further noted that this is a positive step and is a demonstration of a growing confidence by the international community in the Government of Somalia and its institutions. In this regard, Ambassador Maalim hopes that Belgium will extend this recognition to the ordinary passport of Somalia. He also encourages other remaining countries to recognise passport issued by the Federal Government of Somalia and facilitate favourable visa processing for Somali nationals. Source: Horn Diplomat

AGRICULTURE On the second day of May, Uganda will host a regional ministers' summit on agriculture and trade in Kampala. The three-day conference will take place at Speke Resort Munyonyo and is expected to feature delegations from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique. It has been organised by the agriculture ministry in conjunction with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). Other critical delegates invited for the summit include heads of regional economic communities; East African Community (EAC), Common Markets for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), Inter Government Authority for Development (IGAD) and representatives from the African Union (AU). Also invited are director generals of national agriculture research institutes from all ASARECA countries, development partners, private sector actors, farmers' organisations among many others. Agriculture minister Vincent Sempijja told reporters at the ministry headquarters on Tuesday that the summit is aimed at co-ordinating the generation of research solutions to challenges affecting agricultural sector such as the management of trans-boundary diseases such as cassava brown streak disease and maize lethal necrosis virus. "We shall also discuss how to co-ordinate and harmonise rationalisation of policies for cross-border trade in agricultural commodities and for exchange of agricultural commodities," he added. The summit has been organised under a theme 'Repositioning ASARECA for accelerated African agricultural transformation, and a sub-theme; Enhancing productivity, Resilience and Prosperity in Africa'. It is aimed at pulling a team of scientists in the region to work on...

EAST African Business Council (EABC) has gone a notch higher in resolving challenges facing the regional economies, with the launch of the regional programme on Public-Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment. Jointly launched by the EABC and TradeMark Africa (TMA), the project that spans from 2019 to 2023 aims at enhancing advocacy and dialogue on transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs and tax, standards and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) at regional and country levels. The five-year programme is said to extend beyond the EAC and incorporates the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Af- CFTA). “The Council is keen to enhance dialogue and partnership between the private and public sector, hence EABC will spearhead the programme in close collaboration with all national and regional sectoral private sector associations in EAC,” EABC Chief Executive Officer Peter Mathuki said. He noted that for businesses in the region to grow and expand within and beyond the EAC, there is need for technical and financial support to EABC to advocate and input substantive issues affecting the business community in regard to policy formulation and implementation. The Public-Private Dialogue can facilitate trade and investment climate reforms by promoting better diagnosis of investment climate problems, transparency and inclusive design of policy reforms, making policies easier to implement,” he disclosed. According to Mathuki, barriers to trading across borders like multiple product standard inspections and bureaucratic trade procedures, delay business transactions and increase...

Way back in History, Africa was not mentioned by authors writing about the global economy. It was as if Africa didn’t exist... Or it ‘existed’ only when media organs were writing about civil wars, famines, severe malnutrition and migration – mostly illegal migration! It was a continent of no hope; a continent of woes. However, all that has drastically changed in the last few years – and, in this article, I explore six areas of greatest opportunities in Africa. Today, there are about 400 companies that earn annual revenues of $1 billion or more in Africa – and, on average, they are both fast-growing and more profitable than their global peers. Africa has become an important test lab for global innovation. If you can build a product, a service or a business model that’s cost-effective and robust enough to succeed in Africa, chances are that it will be competitive anywhere else in the world. Admittedly, there are huge challenges to doing business in Africa. But, these same challenges also provide opportunities for value-creation. In all those opportunities the golden thread running through them is technology. More than perhaps any other continent, Africa is piloting digitally-enabled breakthroughs that aid companies in surmounting entrenched barriers and unlocking exponential progress. 1. Millions in Africa lack access to savings and credit facilities. To serve the excluded households and businesses – and to do so in a profitable, sustainable way – banks and other financial institutions must use efficient but easily operable technology-based solutions; and...

Tea export volumes from East Africa to the rest of the world recorded a 21 per cent growth, the latest April auction report has shown. Records from the auction held on April 15th and 16th at the Mombasa auction, show that the regional exported a total of 9.6 million kilogramme bags, up from 7.5 million kilogramme bags shipped around the same time the previous year. At least six Eastern African member states actively participated in the auction out of the nine auction listed countries. These included Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Ethiopia. The other countries on the list but did not trade include DR Congo, Malawi and Mozambique. Reason  Uganda’s tea production has continued to show positive growth which has largely been attributed to good agronomical practices and increased acreage. Mr George William Ssekitooleko, the General Secretary Uganda Tea Association, in an earlier interview with Prosper magazine said: “Good production as result of increased acreage is responsible for this performance.” In the year ending 2018, tea exports recorded a 15 per cent increase – the highest performance that industrial players attribute to good production. A total of 71 million bags of tea were exported up from 60 million kilogramme bags average exported the previous consecutive years, according to Bank of Uganda records. Performance The auction report by the East African Tea Export Auctions showed that Kenya exported over 7.2 million kilogrammes bags more than the 5.7 million it exported the same time last year. This indicated a 19.7 per...

EAST African Business Council (EABC) has gone a notch higher in resolving challenges facing the regional economies, with the launch of the regional programme on Public-Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment. Jointly launched by the EABC and TradeMark Africa (TMA), the project that spans from 2019 to 2023 aims at enhancing advocacy and dialogue on transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs and tax, standards and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) at regional and country levels. The five-year programme is said to extend beyond the EAC and incorporates the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Af- CFTA). “The Council is keen to enhance dialogue and partnership between the private and public sector, hence EABC will spearhead the programme in close collaboration with all national and regional sectoral private sector associations in EAC,” EABC Chief Executive Officer Peter Mathuki said here on Monday. He noted that for businesses in the region to grow and expand within and beyond the EAC, there is need for technical and financial support to EABC to advocate and input substantive issues affecting the business community in regard to policy formulation and implementation. “ The Public-Private Dialogue can facilitate trade and investment climate reforms by promoting better diagnosis of investment climate problems, transparency and inclusive design of policy reforms, making policies easier to implement,” he disclosed. According to Mr Mathuki, barriers to trading across borders like multiple product standard inspections and bureaucratic trade procedures,...

East Africa has recently seen a surge in investments from Mauritius, with banking, insurance, agriculture, telecoms, trade as well as the oil and gas sectors receiving most of the capital. Global consultancy firm Binder Dijker Otte says that investors from the Indian Ocean island nation are also eyeing the retail, real estate and hospitality sectors. “There is a certain ease of doing business for Mauritian operators in East Africa, with the rule of law and a strong private sector making the region attractive,” said BDO experts. Kenya has attracted the largest number of investors, with data showing that the islanders have invested over Ksh10 billion ($100 million) in the country, mostly in financial services and the sugar sector. INVESTMENTS President Uhuru Kenyatta was recently in Mauritius on a four-day state visit where he met Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. They agreed to jointly support private sector investments in the two countries, by reducing the bureaucratic procedures required to set up businesses. “We can facilitate you to ensure that you prosper and our nations prosper so as to create jobs,” President Kenyatta told the Mauritius-Kenya Business Forum in Port Louis. During the visit, the two countries re-signed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, which a Kenyan High Court had ruled as unconstitutional in March, citing a failure to conduct due diligence. The agreement is meant to ensure that the income earned by investors from the two countries is not taxed twice. The Mauritius Union Assurance Company Ltd, the largest listed insurer by...