Legislators from the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) of the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, have convened in Nairobi to deliberate on the acceleration of the ratification process and entry into force of the Protocol relating to the free movement of persons in Africa before the end of year 2020. The three-day meeting looked into the harmonization and alignment of the EAC and ECOWAS free movement frameworks with the “African Union Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to Free Movement of Persons: Right of Residence and Right of Establishment” and its implementation roadmap. The legislators will also develop a plan to popularize the issuance of the African Passport, as a catalyst for the realization of free movement in Africa. Facilitated by the African Union Commission (AUC) Department of Political Affairs, the meeting is expected to develop a comprehensive ratification roadmap of the protocol and provide recommendations for the harmonization of the EAC and ECOWAS regional norms and policies on free movement of persons, as well as the border security management, aligned with the AU Protocol on Free Movement. The protocol needs fifteen (15) ratifications to come into force as a reflection of the commitment of African Union Member States to promote economic, social and cultural development, and the integration of African economies through seamless borders. AUC Head of Humanitarian, Refugees and Displaced Persons Division, Amb. Olabisi Dare, while urging the legislators to champion the ratification of the...

Kenya and South Sudan have said they will continue seeking ways to strengthen trade relations between them.Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma yesterday said they had planned a series of talks ahead of a visit by President Salva Kiir to Nairobi.Dr Juma said Kenya would be seeking to benefit from South Sudan's wealth as a form of payment for her peacekeeping efforts in the country.Juma said among other things, they planned to launch the first ever joint commission for cooperation with Juba. counterpart, Regional Affairs Minister Nhial Deng Nhial, in Nairobi.Juma said also to be discussed during President Kiir's visit would be review of security and management of the border between the two countries.The two delegations will also discuss how to fast-track implementation of the peace process in South Sudan and how Kenya could cooperate on regional infrastructure development.Deng said South Sudan was keen on strengthening “our relationship” as neighbours."We'll also discuss various bilateral agreements and explore ways of working together in the region," Deng said. “As always, we are grateful for Kenya's contribution to South Sudan, key among them peace and security," he said.Also expected to feature in the talks is the ease of movement of persons and goods between the two countries.Since joining the East Africa Community in April 2016, the country has been keen to improve relations with countries in the bloc. Source: Standard Digital

East Africa Community (EAC) States are optimistic that the EAC Standard Gauge Railway once completed in different states, will enhance trading between the members as well as movement of goods and services. Development of railway lines within EAC has been underlined as a means for enhancement of connectivity and linkages between the ports and the inlands to enable cross border trade and heavy industrial development harnessed by the cheaper means of transport. According to the managing director of Kenya Railways, Atanas Maina, the development of the railway transport is one way through which EAC countries can attain middle income status. “The development of standard gauge railway is supposed to provide a transformative land transport infrastructure that will help the region move towards the middle income status” he states Kenya has been at the forefront in implementation of the Northern Corridor Standard Gauge Railway, having completed their part from Mombasa to Nairobi in 2018. Uganda and Rwanda are yet to start on the planned 1,500km-long railway from Mombasa to Kigali Although there have been delays in the implementation of the project, officials at the EAC council are impressed with the EAC states commitment to infrastructure development According to Libe’rat Mfumukeko, the Secretary General EAC, building the SGR remains a priority for all EAC and will be implemented fully as planned “Over the last three to four, most EAC countries have doubled their budgets for Infrastructure Development. This is a very good move because it is through infrastructure that we can push...

the Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Southern Africa (ACTESA), German Society for International Corporation (GIZ) and the Kenya Agribusiness and Agroindustry Alliance (KAAA), at the 15th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. CABI’s Dr George Oduor, Global Director Value Chains and Trade is leading the side event – entitled ‘Operationalizing AfCFTA – Partnerships and elimination of barriers to trade in Africa’ with a view to addressing some of the key challenges in agricultural value chains. Representatives from participating organizations, which also include various Ministries of Agriculture, FAO, AGRA, Common Market for East and Southern Africa, Economic Commission of West African States, Trademark East Africa and the East African Community (EAC), are taking part in the session which presents African countries and their development and technical partners with the opportunity to reflect together, share best practices and identify strategies and policies to foster integration, enhanced market access and intra-regional trade in agricultural commodities and services. “The agricultural market is growing and is currently estimated at more than US $3 trillion – about 70 percent of this comes from smallholder farmers, who are particularly vulnerable to production challenges including climate change”, said Dr Oduor. “Some of the key questions and talking points which will form the basis of the discussion will look at ways in which we can promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation.” Dr Oduor added that international trade and travel have expanded significantly in recent decades – increasing the rate...

The private sector in South Sudan has been requested to spearhead the country's integration into the East African Community (EAC). "Private sector has to be anchored on predictable policy consistency at the socio-economic policy levels", said the EAC secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko. He made the remarks last week during a sensitization workshop for private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Juba. The event was organized by South Sudan's ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs and the Arusha-based secretariat of the Community. Amb. Mfumukeko called for the speeding up of the country's integration into the EAC to pave way for the implementation of projects and programmes. South Sudan, the world's newest nation joined the EAC in August 2016 but is yet to be fully integrated into the bloc. Source: The Citizen

On May 30, 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement secured the minimum threshold of 22 ratifications for its entry into force. Sierra Leone and the Saharawi Republic were the 21st and the 22nd ratifications, required under Article 23 of the AfCFTA Agreement, for it to enter into force thirty days after deposit of the twenty second deposit. The Chairperson of the AUC Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, hailed the two deposits as timely and significant steps towards removing the fragmentation of African economies and markets, a process that is likely to create a large market for trade and investments on the continent. To operationalise the AfCFTA Agreement, the signatories must be ready to adopt supporting instruments (such as rules of origin, schedules of tariff concessions on trade in goods, online non-tariff barriers monitoring and elimination mechanism, digital payments and settlement platform, and African Trade Observatory Portal) to facilitate the launch of the operational phase of the Agreement. This process has to be firmed up by an Extraordinary Heads of State and Government summit due to take place on July 7, 2019. It’s quite important, however, to stress that a strong and sustained advocacy to have all AU Member States sign and ratify the AfCFTA Agreement. Like the Paris Agreement, which entered info force on 4 November 2016, after securing the minimum threshold of 55 Parties to the Convention almost a year after its signing, the AfCFTA Agreement was signed in Kigali, on 31 March 2018, making it the second...

The annual African Development Bank meeting took place this past week in Equatorial Guinea with the key subject of discussion, as is evident in the theme of the meetings - Regional Integration for Africa’s economic prosperity – being integration. “To integrate Africa, bring down the walls,” said Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the president of African Development Bank (AfDB), at the opening of the 25th annual meeting of the continental bank. Dr Adesina urged African governments to work towards the elimination of non-tariff barriers, saying ‘pulling down’ non-tariff barriers alone will spur trade by at least 53 per cent, and potentially double trade. According to the East African Community (EAC), the internal EAC market has about 146 million consumers, while the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) comprises 20 member states with a population of more than 460 million. Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi are all members of Comesa. The EAC was established in 1967 but collapsed along the way and was re-established in 2000. Its efforts play into the wider vision of the continental bank, now in its 55th year. This year’s opening ceremony was presided over by the host nation’s president, Mr Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Also in attendance were King Letsie III of Lesotho; president Félix Antoine Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, the Prime Minister of Eswatini (Swaziland). High-level government officials from Rwanda, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Côte d’Ivoire were also present. The State minister of Finance, Dr Gabriel...

AfDB’s President, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina mentioned it during the Banks Annual meetings that are currently undergoing in Malabo, Guinea. He specifically sought support in the areas of Agriculture and Industry but especially agri-industrialisation. Adesina noted that it was critical to link infrastructure projects with agriculture development and industrial development for the benefits to reach the common citizenry in EAC. Dr Adesina said the bank is also supporting establishment of an AfDB coordination and capacity building unit at the EAC HQs noting that the AfDB portfolio has grown and therefore need for more coordination, strategic and analytical capacity; He said the Bank is committed to present EAC bankable projects to the AfDB coordinated African Investment Forum in November 2019 in South Africa. A joint team of EAC and AfDB will work on preparing bankable projects for presentation to that effect. Adesina noted that the EAC is the most active and dynamic regional economic bloc with very clear results and a very high level of political momentum. He lauded the EAC for the great gains made in the implementation of the Customs Union and the Common Market. He specifically commended the progress in free movement of people and increased trade. He noted that EAC Countries are now issuing the East African e-Passport. Source: IPP Media

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the organisation, has asked the EAC to put the discussion of DR Congo's membership on the agenda of the next heads of state meeting in November. The DR Congo shares borders with four of the six members of the bloc and Tshisekedi said on a visit to Tanzania -- home to its headquarters -- that he hoped membership would ease trade. "The Democratic Republic of Congo has recently requested membership of the East African Community. This will allow us to drop customs barriers and increase trade between our countries," Tshisekedi said at a dinner with his counterpart John Magufuli. "We are facing the challenge of regional integration that we must absolutely realise," he said, highlighting the need for cross-border transport and energy infrastructure. He gave his support to a planned railway linking Tanzania's port at Dar es Salaam to the eastern DRC via Rwanda -- one of several ambitious rail projects in the region. "Our countries must commit to development based on democracy and freedom so as to promote Africans so they can compete with other parts of the world," Tshisekedi said as he kicked off a two-day visit in Tanzania. Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the organisation, has asked the EAC to put the discussion of DRC's membership on the agenda of the next heads of state meeting in November, the East African newspaper reported Thursday. The DRC is already a member of the Southern African Development Community...

East African finance ministers converged on tough taxation measures aimed at protecting local manufacturers from “unfair imports competition,” in their spending plans for the coming year, made public on Thursday. Most of the tax measures, contained in the budget statements for the 2019/2020 fiscal year, were approved during the ministers’ pre-budget consultations in Arusha in May. Higher taxation of imports is aimed at driving consumption of cheaper locally produced goods, spurring the growth of manufacturing and creating jobs that ultimately improve living standards. Proponents of the proposed measures are in line with the EAC Industrialisation Plan that seeks to transform the region into a globally competitive, environment-friendly and sustainable industrial sector that is capable of significantly improving the living standards of the people by 2032. “The recommendations aim at pushing the regional industrialisation policy, creating jobs and improving East Africans’ living standards,” said Philip Mpango, Tanzania’s Finance and Planning minister. Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya are focusing on improving the competitiveness of local industries by protecting them from cheaper imports through taxation and other policy measures. Despite the good intentions, experts have warned that these tax measures — which are also applicable to goods coming from EAC member states — could stand in the way of integration, as each country becomes inward-looking in a bid to build its industrial capacity. Already, trade spats, especially between Kenya and Tanzania, have seen Dar es Salaam block Kenyan products from its market. The partners have also failed to agree on a reviewed common...