He said technology is a prime enabler of sustainable competitiveness, with the power to elevate African countries to middle-income level. Ruto noted that countries can embrace modern technology by investing in education and training, beginning by aligning the needs of the private sector “vis-a-vis what our youth are taught”. “A suitably reoriented technology should impart leadership, digital and soft skills in every young person going through the education system,” he said. The Deputy President spoke on Tuesday in Munyonyo, Uganda, during the Africa Now Summit 2019. Leaders attending the two-day conference, whose theme is “Towards a secure, integrated and growing Africa” are Uganda President Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Uganda Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda. Others are Tanzania Vice President Samia Suluhu, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Mukhisa Kituyi and Chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa Tony Elumelu. Having appreciated the power of technology in furthering growth, Ruto said Kenya was scaling up training and support for innovation by financing and facilitating market access for young people to create, collaborate, test and improve concepts. “This is how vibrant tech hubs arise, survive and drive structural change,” he noted. At the same time, Ruto urged African leaders to refine their education to focus on science, technology and innovation. He said the move would help align training with market needs and to the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He told the conference that Kenya was already implementing the “most ambitious...

As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is still battling with teething problems of its age long pet project of single currency,  the Africa Union (AU) may have seized the initiative to launch common monetary policy and single currency to accelerate economic integration of African countries. According to Ms Naglaa Nozahie, a Special Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, who represented the Association of African Central Banks (AACB) at the third session of the Specialised Technical Committee of the African Union (AU) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration in Yaounde, Cameroon last week, the initiative is to culminate in the establishment of the African Central Bank (ACB) by AU in 2045. Late last year, the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said, at the Intra Africa Trade Fair (IATF)in Egypt that it was working on an arrangement that would enable countries trade and settle transactions costs without reference to external currencies. According to its Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Obi Emekekwue, Afreximbank is already working on the scheme that would enable African countries trade among one another without resorting to other convertible currencies like the dollar, pound sterling, euro and the Chinese renminbi. He disclosed that the bank had already commenced a test run of the scheme, which would be launched across the continent soon. The lack of such deal to facilitate urgent settlement of trade mighteventually truncate the dream of a common market under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) regime, according to the...

He said that the good relationship that exists between the two countries can be made better and more beneficial through people-to-people interactions. “The relationship between our two countries is probably the best,” President Kenyatta said. “The more we meet, the more we interact, the better we integrate as a people,” he added. President Kenyatta spoke on Monday at the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) Combat Training Centre in Gabiro where he addressed over five hundred top government and private sector officials who are attending the national leadership retreat. The national leadership retreat is held annually and brings together leaders from all sectors of the Rwandan economy to discuss development programmes. The President, who was on a short visit to Rwanda, said he was impressed by the national leadership retreat concept and promised to consider replicating it in Kenya. While citing Rwanda’s top ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, he noted that the country, under President Kagame had risen from the devastation of war into a robust economy and a model of progress in Africa. “I am proud of how Rwanda has emerged from the challenges of its past into a model economy. Rwanda is one of Africa’s shining stars,” he said. The President, who earlier held private talks with his host, said that Kenya and Rwanda have been able to achieve a lot together in recent years and challenged the people of the two sister countries to engage more. “As governments, we have been able to achieve...

IN SUMMARY The souring of relations between the two neighbours has been simmering for years now, and worsened last week when Rwanda closed the Gatuna border post. The planned SGR line linking Mombasa to landlocked Uganda and Rwanda has lagged behind schedule, largely due to financing constraints, doubts over its economic viability, and the high cost of construction and indecisiveness of some partner states. Rwandan officials met their Tanzanian counterparts for discussions on reinforcing trade and collaboration between the two countries. The East African learned that no agreements were signed. In view of the recent developments, President Kagame would be anxious to get this project done soon to clear the logistical nightmare that would arise were Uganda to block goods destined for Rwanda from passing through its territory. Rwandan President Paul Kagame was in Tanzania this past week on a two-day visit, seen as a quest to firm up relations with Dar in the wake of escalating tensions with Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. President Kagame, who arrived in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, held private talks with President John Magufuli, in what is perceived as a quest to have the Tanzanian leader mediate in the security and commercial dispute between Kampala and Kigali. The souring of relations between the two neighbours has been simmering for years now, and worsened last week when Rwanda closed the Gatuna border post. In recent weeks, Kigali has complained that Uganda has been subjecting its citizens to illegal arrests and torture. Kampala had...

Though discussions of African trade during 2018 were dominated by the quest to establish a Continental Free Trade Area, its fruits are unlikely to be realised any time soon. Even if ratified in 2019, its outcomes will take many years to unfold because substantive discussions on rules of origin and tariff lines have yet to happen. By contrast, should the Tripartite Free Trade Area be ratified by the requisite number of countries – as seems possible in the coming months – over 90 per cent of tariff lines have already been agreed, meaning actual implementation would take place in the shorter term. Indeed, combining Comesa, EAC, and SADC means having over half the continent’s nations under one big roof and making TFTA the primary building block of any CFTA. In turn, the creation of TFTA depends heavily on existing procedures and ideas from Comesa. Thus, it would be fair to say that Comesa is a driving force of regional economic integration. Within the bloc, below the ultimate decision-makers – the Comesa Authority and Council of Ministers – is the brains and engine of integration, the Secretariat. For trade matters, it is the Secretariat’s duty to support the drive for higher intra-bloc trade in line with established protocols. And within the Secretariat there is a department that puts this responsibility into practice, an office small in size but large in mandate: the Directorate of Trade and Customs. Given the role of Comesa on the continental stage, it is perhaps the most...

Customers in Singapore and across the world will now have easy access to some of Rwanda made products after the country’s leading grocery retail store, redmart, started trading them on its online platform. The online groceries retail and delivery store launched the ‘Best of Rwanda’ that will make Rwandan products such as chilli oil, coffee, tea, honey, essential oil and others available to the Singaporean online market and delivered directly to homes and other nationwide addresses. The project is a result of a partnership between Plus 5 trading company in Singapore and Business Engineers Asia and is backed by the High Commission of Rwanda in Singapore, according to a statement by the High Commission. Products like Gorillas Coffee, Kinunu Coffee from the Rwanda’s district of Rusizi and Diddy’s chili are already selling on the Singaporean market through the platform and more products will be added gradually. The High Commission has challenged other Rwandan firms to take advantage of the platform in order to diversify their exports to the lucrative Singaporean market. Rwanda is also diversifying its export markets, among them, into China where the two countries signed the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) agreement. Source: The New Times

Rwanda has started to allow trucks carrying goods from Uganda to enter at one of the main crossing points on their shared border, the Ugandan government said on Monday, a sign that renewed hostilities have started to ease. Rwanda last week abruptly begun blocking cargo trucks from Uganda from entering its territory as well as stopping its nationals from crossing over to Uganda. Uganda summoned Rwanda’s ambassador to Kampala on Friday to protest against the border closure. Ofwono Opondo, Uganda’s government spokesman, said on Monday that the flow of cargo traffic had been eased at Mirama Hills, one of the three main border crossings between the countries.   Rwanda cabinet extends central bank governor's term by six years Uganda will review allegations of arbitrary detentions of Rwandese which authorities in Kigali have cited as one the reasons for stopping the country’s nationals from coming to Uganda, Opondo said. “Specific cases raised on alleged arbitrary arrests or detentions shall be handled through normal diplomatic channels,” he wrote on Twitter. Two other crossings including the busy Katuna border post remain closed, he said. The hostilities, fuelled by longstanding mutual suspicions and allegations of supporting each other’s dissidents, are unlikely to escalate into war because of overwhelming western diplomatic pressure on both sides to calm the situation, analysts said. Rwanda depends for much of its imports on a trade route through Uganda to Kenya’s Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa. ove him or hate him, Kagame could be Africa’s Lee Kuan Yew The same...

As the border closure between Rwanda and Uganda entered day six on Monday, the Uganda Revenue Authority revealed that it was taken by surprise by Rwanda’s action, and that pleas to Kigali to find a quick solution to the crisis went unheeded. A March 2 letter by the Commissioner for Customs at URA Dicksons Kateshumbwa to his Rwandan counterpart revealed the scale of the crisis. “Whereas the rationale and spirit behind the decision is appreciated, it would have been more appropriate to undertake the measure as a joint decision, considering the fact that the affected borders are OSBPs (one-stop border posts) where either side is interdependent on the other,” said Kateshumbwa. “Besides, a decision of this nature would ideally give ample time to the stakeholders to enable adjustments to be done so as to comply and in the case of customs to rationalize manpower so that we facilitate trade smoothly. In this particular case, the implementation of the decision was done on the very day of notification.” 'UNCLOG BORDER' Mr Kateshumbwa said most of the stranded cargo had already been cleared under the Single Customs Territory. “We have a clogged Gatuna border post with 10 Rwanda registered trucks, 49 Uganda registered trucks, 37 Kenya registered trucks and nine Burundi registered trucks all carrying mixed goods,” he said, adding that some of the trucks are carrying perishables while 17 of the Kenyan registered trucks are carrying petroleum products. “Therefore, considering the potential risk of these highly flammable products as well as...

Uganda is denying charges from neighboring Rwanda that, among other things, it has arrested and tortured dozens of Rwandan citizens, in the latest round of a diplomatic feud between the two nations that’s led to tensions at the border. The Ugandan foreign minister also denied Kigali’s allegations that his country harbors armed groups fighting against Rwanda, while Rwanda’s ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday denied reports that Rwanda was building up troops along the border with Uganda. “It is false that Uganda hosts any elements fighting Rwanda,” said foreign minister Sam Kutesa in his statement. “Rwanda knows this very well as it has been a matter of confidential communication at the highest level of the two countries.” For his part, Rwandan foreign minister Richard Sezibera denied Uganda’s accusations of intentional border closures in violation of their East African Communitycommitments. Uganda also denied that it ever closes its borders to Rwandans, although there is currently a crossing at Gatuna on the Rwanda side that’s closed through May because of construction upgrades. Yet Sezibera restated Rwanda’s belief that its citizens are arrested, tortured and held without contact by Ugandan authorities. That claim was refuted by Kutesa, who said law-abiding Rwandans are always welcome to visit his country but Uganda will always enforce its laws within its own right to do so. “It is not true that Uganda arrests, tortures and harasses Rwandans,” said Kutesa, noting the country’s open door policy. “It is not by mistake that Uganda continues to be the largest refugee...

Experts at the aviation summit in Kigali said that African governments will need to depoliticise aviation, shelve sovereignty and support airlines financially to build stronger inter-bloc co-operation. Up to 397 African airlines have gone under since 1960, and more could shut down if they don’t evolve fast. Aviation industry captains and regulators have been pushing for open skies and making air transport affordable in Africa, but these have largely remained pipe dreams even as the number of new flyers grows. For most Africans, it takes about three weeks’ salary on average to travel by air on the continent, whereas it takes only a three-day salary to fly the same distances in other parts of the world like Europe and the US. African airlines incur the highest operational costs globally due to prohibitive fuel costs, taxes and other charges, unfriendly Customs regimes and monopolistic environments. Although up to 28 countries have already signed up to the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) treaty, only two have implemented it fully. “It is a form of colonial hangover that many countries still suffer from. It’s just a matter of time and everyone will see the benefits of an open air space and join,” said Ladislaus Matindi, the CEO of Air Tanzania. African airlines were accused of neglecting co-operation with others on the continent in maintenance, training and operational services, opting to work with foreign airlines instead. “Even when requesting additional frequencies or stops, you are blocked in many African countries. There is no...