By Baher Kamal and Fareed Mahdy Madrid/Cairo — In Egypt more than 1,500 public and private business delegates and state leaders agreed on 20-21 February to mobilise massive investments for the implementation of Africa's largest trading bloc whichwas created last year by 26 African countries with a total of 620 million consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearing 1,2 trillion dollars. The agreement crowned the "Africa 2016" investment forum held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh with the participation of business leaders together with government officials and heads of international organisations to discuss trade and investment as engines of progress. African heads of state and government from Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sudan and Togo took part in the forum. No official figures relating to the amount of these investments have been released. "They (the private business sector) are ready to invest. Africa is the continent of the future, this is clear. However, there are huge hurdles that have been 'scaring' the big business pundits," an Egyptian diplomat commented to IPS on condition of anonymity. Titanic Efforts "African governments must make titanic efforts to ensure the right atmosphere needed to attract investors; adopt the necessary legislative measures to facilitate business activities; combat rampant corruption and eliminate bureaucratic obstacles; reform their financial systems to facilitate re-exporting capitals and benefits... not to mention democratic governance and preventing and ending so many armed conflicts... " Corruption comes first on the list of impediments to investment along with instability,...

ARUSHA, Tanzania, 23 February 2016 / PRN Africa / — The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, received credentials from the Belgian and European Union Ambassadors who have been accredited to the East African Community. While presenting his credentials to Dr. Sezibera, Belgian Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Paul Cartier, said his country was keen on strengthening her relations with the Community. Amb. Cartier said Belgium wants to be part of the solution to various challenges facing the EAC. In his remarks, Amb. Dr Sezibera thanked the Belgian government for her offer of additional support to the EAC, adding that a framework of agreement for cooperation will be developed between Belgium and the Community. The Secretary General hailed Belgium for her contribution to the Partnership Fund, which has enabled the EAC to undertake programmes and projects in various sectors. The Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and to the EAC, H.E. Mr. Roeland van de Geer, also presented his credentials to the Secretary General. Amb. van de Geer noted that the EU's assistance to the EAC was broad covering almost all sectors of the integration agenda, reaffirming that the EU would continue providing this support. He urged the EAC to identify and prioritize the areas in which it would require increased support from the EU. Amb. Sezibera and Amb. van de Geer agreed to hold bilateral talks to re-examine the cooperation framework between the EAC and the EU with the goal of...

The instability of Burundi, the East African country fighting poverty and political crisis, has an impact on the business activities of the East Africa Community (EAC), which has tried to promote the whole region as one destination to boost tourism in East Africa. According to the chairman of the Burundi Chamber of Hotels and Tourism, Dennis Nshimiyimana, the situation in Burundi hurts regional tourism. While some hoteliers in Bujumbura, Burundi’s capital, closed down their facilities, others died violently, and still others ran away from the country. Mr. Nshimiyimana seeks support of the East African Tourism Platform (EATP) as well as the region in order to reestablish peace and resume business activities. With the shutting down of the Akilah Institute for Women, there is no university to provide education in the field of tourism and impart the required skills to people. As the hotel capacity in Burundi has come down, more investment has also become essential, according to Nshimiyimana.  The tourism activities in the country remain paralyzed because of the political instability. The turmoil in Burundi started in April 2015 following the announcement by the National Council for Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy that the ruling party’s Pierre Nkurunziza, currently the president, would contest for his third term in office. Amidst opposition, Nkurunziza won the elections in July, which resulted in violent protests and political crisis. Up to now, more than 500 people died and as many as 230,000 left the country. In Rwanda alone, there are as...

KIGALI (Xinhua) -- Rwanda’s exports to East African Community (EAC) countries recorded a slight drop in 2015, according to official data released here. The exports to EAC fell 10.3 percent to 127.8 million U.S. dollars, down from 142.4 million dollars in 2014, said the country’s Central Bank 2015 Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement. The statement, released by the National Bank of Rwanda (BRN), attributed the decline to falling international commodity prices and shrinking exports to Burundi."Due to ongoing conflicts in Burundi and the fall of international commodity prices led to decline in value of our exports but this doesn’t cause any alarm," John Rwangombwa, governor BNR told reporters shortly after presenting Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement. He noted that Rwanda imports from the EAC countries, which represent 22.4 percent of total imports, decreased 5 percent from 2015. EAC is made up of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. The drop in the country’s exports hinders Rwanda’s bid to increase exports and achieve its export promotion strategy. The small central African nation relies heavily on imports and it will be an uphill battle to bring down the trade deficit to manageable proportions without a strategy to increase the value of exports. Despite the fall in exports, Rwangombwa said the "positive side is that the country’s exports to EAC are diversified and most agricultural products." "The fall in export commodities will not deter the government’s efforts to increase the value of exports and boost competitiveness in the international market," he added....

In October 2015, Nairobi hosted the 11th Heads of State Summit of the Northern Corridor Integration Project (NCIP). The meeting, attended by the presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan, was convened to review the progress of strategic regional infrastructure projects. The heads of state pushed for the implementation of the Northern Corridor Technology Alliance (NCTA) — a regional sector alliance formed to champion the implementation of key ICT projects within the NCIP. The NCTA was formally launched in Kigali on July 17, 2015 and consists of a 24-member steering committee, with six representatives from each partner country and a chief co-ordinator. NCTA aims to deliver earmarked ICT projects using local firms and expertise. In addition, it aims to ensure that all implemented projects generate enough revenue to repay the initial project capitalization costs. Partner countries could assign projects to local companies before the end of 2016. Under the MoU signed by the private sector apex bodies in partner states, various firms in these countries will have the opportunity to compete for more than $500 million worth of tech projects available for implementation under a public private partnership. Currently, e-Soko trading platforms have already been earmarked for implementation by Kenya. Similarly, e-Learning (knowledge management) has been allocated to Uganda while e-Immigration has been assigned to Rwanda. NCTA’s proposed structures include a board and a secretariat, with members drawn from all the partner states. In addition, NCTA will also adopt its own project management and quality control mechanisms to vet...

East African countries are dragging their feet on tax harmonisation because of concerns about tax sovereignty, failure to agree on a common excise policy, fear of losing revenue, and the difficulty of converging excise rates, given the differences in per capita income. A study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the impact of EAC excise tax harmonisation recommends that in order to move faster on the matter, the EAC partners need to focus on key areas including procedures and administration, classification rules and definitions and remission schemes. Rajesh Shah, senior tax partner at PwC, said tax harmonisation need not necessarily result in the same tax rates and laws, but in processes that will enable the EAC partner states to eliminate barriers that hamper the free movement of goods, services and capital, and promote investment within the region. These freedoms are provided for in the EAC Treaty and Common Market Protocol. “We need common warehousing procedures, declaration and documentation for products destined for another partner state,” said Mr Shah. “This should only apply on products released for consumption and not consumed due to setbacks such as spoilage and expired products.” So far, only Customs duties have been harmonised by setting a common external tariff (CET) for imports into Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Building the foundation Although the EAC faces challenges such as illicit trade and wide disparities in rates and structures, it should be possible to build the foundation of a harmonised excise tax system and secure long term growth in...

The East African Community’s dream of having a common e-East African passport for the citizens of its five member states will soon come to reality. Initially scheduled for release in November 2015, the e-passport was delayed as pending issues were ironed out. But from March this year, citizens from the trading bloc will be able to access the EAC e-passport, allowing easy movement within the community-a mandate of the EAC integration process. Its introduction will also be a milestone towards achieving harmonization in the region. EAC states plan on having their citizens use the new generation document for global travel too. Owora Richard Othieno said that launching the international EAC e-passport is on the agenda of the upcoming 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit. The EAC senior communication official was speaking ahead of the Summit on Tuesday. The Summit is set for February 29 and will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers from February 22 to 27. Both will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The EAC trading bloc includes Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Source: Footprint to Africa

The Swedish Government has pledged to continue supporting the East African Community (EAC) integration process. This pledge was made by Katarina Rangnitt, the Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, who said cooperation among the five EAC partner states was crucial to relations between Sweden and East Africa. The envoy was speaking after she presented her credentials to the EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, according to a statement from the regional bloc's secretariat. Sweden has over the past nine years disbursed financial support amounting to over $850,000 to the bloc, through the EAC Partnership Fund. Sezibera thanked the Swedish envoy for her government support to the community over the years noting that the Swedish support has been used for among other things the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the EAC and the EU as well as boosting the health sector in the region. The Secretary General briefed Rangnit on the progress of the EAC integration saying the Community had made many achievements since the signing of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC on 30th November, 1999. He pointed out other achievements as the reduction of Non-Tariff Barriers to the free movement of goods, the convertibility of the Partner States national currencies and cooperation in the development of infrastructure. "Our infrastructure programmes are largely on track. Many of the One Stop Border Posts have been completed, and are being operationalised. I congratulate the Partner States for ratifying the One Stop...

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- East African citizens will from March this year be able to access the East African Community (EAC) e-passports that will help ease their movement in the trading bloc, a senior official said on Tuesday. EAC's senior official in-charge of communication unit Owora Richard Othieno disclosed this here when speaking ahead the 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit set for February 29 in Tanzania's safari capital of Arusha. He said that among other things scheduled for the day, regional leaders will launch international EAC e-passport. The long-awaited New Generation e-East African Passport will be a major milestone towards achieving a harmonization in the region. The e-passport was scheduled for launch in November last year but was postponed to allow more time to airbrush pending issues on the travel document. The Summit is also expected to deliberate on a report on the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC. The Summit will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha on Feb. 22-27 The EAC trading bloc includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania. Source: Shanghai Daily

Egypt's new Ambassador to the Tanzania and the EAC, Mohammed Yasser Ala'Eldeen El Shawaf, said his country was eager to boost trade and technical cooperation Egypt has committed to improve ties with the East African Community. Presenting his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha on Tuesday, Egypt's new Ambassador to the Tanzania and the EAC, Mohammed Yasser Ala'Eldeen El Shawaf, said his country was eager to boost trade and technical cooperation with the EAC Partner States. Welcoming the Egyptian ambassador, Dr. Sezibera described Egypt as an important trading partner for the EAC and praised its outstanding role in promoting negotiations for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EAC, COMESA and SADC.  Dr Sezibera noted that the Tripartite FTA when fully implemented would move the African Continent from the margins of Global Trade, adding that it was a good basis for the Continental Free Trade Area envisioned by the African Union. The Secretary General thanked Egypt for making a tariff offer to the EAC and went on to request Egypt to encourage the other member states to negotiate as a bloc instead of doing so as separate entities saying this would hasten the operationalization of the Tripartite FTA. Source: New Vision