At the invitation of the Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Dr. Edwin Mhede, WCO Secretary General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya visited Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, Tanzania on 5 and 6 February 2020 to discuss Customs modernization with the TRA and political leaders. In Dar es Salaam, a major entry point for Africa on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast, Dr. Mikuriya met the TRA’s management team to discuss progress with the implementation of Customs reform, including the setting up of a Customs Laboratory for which the WCO has recently conducted a feasibility study. He also visited the port of Dar es Salaam to observe the use of various technologies, including the scanner control system, and discussed measures to improve trade facilitation. In Dodoma, capital of Tanzania, Secretary General Mikuriya met with the Minister of Industry and Trade (MIT), Hon. Innocent L. Bashungwa, and discussed the way forward for establishing a coordination mechanism between the MIT, the TRA and other stakeholders to facilitate two-way trade, with due consideration for small and medium-sized enterprises. He also met with the Minister of Finance and Planning, Hon. Philip Mpango, to review a wide range of issues related to Customs reform. Minister Mpango assured Dr. Mikuriya of the prompt accession of Tanzania to the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention, with a view to ratifying and implementing the WTO TFA.  Both Ministers agreed to focus on human resource development and capacity building for Customs, and especially for young Customs officers, in order to achieve a sustainable reform...

By ANNE ROBI WORLD Customs Organisation (WCO) has pledged to work with the Tanzania Revenue Authority and other necessary governing bodies to improve efficiency of customs operations in the country. The WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya who is in the country for three-day official visit made the revelation in Dar es Salaam noting that collaboration with TRA will basically feature on technology use and other areas on improving efficiency of customs operations. Mr Mikuriya told reporters shortly after visiting the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) that use of technology should be linked and integrated with the training of human resource and how to manage it. “For example the Port of Dar es Salaam is very important, but the infrastructures and other relevant services providers should go hand in hand with customs in the use of technology, and this is the aspects that I have been discussing with TRA Commissioner General on how best to improve the efficiency of custom operations, in collaboration with other regulatory and port authorities,” he said. Mr Mikuriya mentioned the Tanzania Centralized Scanner System currently under implementation as one of the example that the country can use to pull resources by learning best practices from each other and getting together and sharing information and knowledge. “As WCO organizes more international meetings there are opportunities that are involving mutual neighbours to share the practices and for the technology should be combined with other partners for best practices,” he said adding that WCO provides many best practices and guidelines...

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 20: (Top L-R) South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmend, Angola's President Joao Lourenco, Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, World Bank President David Malpass, UN executive secretary of Economic Commission for Africa Vera Songwe and IMF Africa Director Abebe Aemro Selassie, (Middle L-R) Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, Malawi's President Peter Mutharika, Britain's Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, Guinea's President Alpha Conde, Britain's International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo, Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and Tunisia's President Kais Saied, (Bottom L-R) Britain's International Development Secretary Alok Sharma, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio, Senegal's President Macky Sall, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi, Morocco's Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani and Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara pose during the family photo at the start of the UK-Africa Investment Summit on January 20, 2020 in London, England. The British PM is hosting African leaders and senior government representatives along with British and African businesses during the UK-Africa Investment Summit, aimed at strengthening the UK’s economic partnership with African nations. By CNN For Citizen Digital British companies have made bigger profits investing in Africa than in any other region of the world, according to a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which urges firms to...

In Summary The committee noted that there was a significant improvement of cargo transit time along the Northern Corridor following infrastructure initiatives undertaken in Kenya between 2013 and 2019. On infrastructure, the committee agreed to seek funds to improve roads especially in South Sudan, where less than one per cent of roads are in a good state according to the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Co-ordination Authority 2019 report. By ANTHONY KITIMO The 10-year-old Northern Corridor trade agreement will be updated by March to address emerging trade opportunities, meet current needs and boost regional trade. This was the main resolution of the 48th executive meeting of the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Co-ordination Authority member states — meeting in Mombasa, Kenya recently. The member states are Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. “The revised draft of Agreement and protocols has been received and is awaiting a validation workshop in March this year before its submission to the Council of Ministers,” said executive secretary Omae Nyarandi. The revised trade agreement will include the use of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway, which was not there in 2007 when the agreements were being drawn up; joint funding of infrastructure such as roads, one-stop-border posts, motion weighbridges; and speed up implementation of the Customs Union Protocol by adopting a single window system for regional custom data transfer to end cross-border delays. Trade Mark East Africa has committed budgetary support of $393,000 for the recruitment of system developers to enhance the current...

Building Cities in Africa – FBW Group Development News UK and Africa businesses urged to “seize the moment” A leading East African architecture and engineering firm is urging businesses in the UK and Africa to “seize the moment” following a major summit looking to deliver more investment and jobs. FBW Group, which is helping deliver large-scale development projects across the region, has also welcomed UK International Development Secretary Alok Sharma’s pledge of new aid to help build green cities across Africa with quality infrastructure. Malawi Creator Centre, Medical Training building: The new UK Centre for Cities and Infrastructure that he has announced aims to “turbo-charge investment” in fast growing cities across the developing world. It will provide British expertise to African governments and city authorities to improve the way cities are planned, built and run, including making them more environmentally-friendly. The focus will be on improvements to infrastructure, including water and energy networks. Mr Sharma’s announcement came on the eve of the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 which took place in London earlier this month (January). In the post-Brexit world the British government is looking to increase exports and encourage UK companies to be more active globally – and specifically turn their attention to markets like Africa. The aim of the London summit was to create new lasting partnerships to deliver more investment, jobs and growth, benefiting both Africa and the UK. It brought together UK and African business representatives, African leaders, international institutions and young entrepreneurs. FBW has operations in...

THE foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi has held talks with the Chief Executive Officer of the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), Mr Tellef Thorleifsson in Dar es Salaam on Thursday that aim to explore investment and trade opportunities between the two countries. “We are certainly pleased with the Africado project in Siha District, Kilimanjaro as it has been producing avocados that are exported to various European countries like the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Middle East, which has considerably helped the government to boost its GDP,” he said. Professor Kabudi added that, the project has also provided around 600 employment opportunities to the Tanzanian citizens. In his remarks, Mr Thorleifsson said the purpose of the fund was to invest in various projects within sub-Saharan Africa that will help the countries’ economy to grow fast. “By the end of 2018 the fund that was already invested in the country was 160m/- US dollars injected in various projects covering energy, finance, food and agriculture sectors. The investment has made Tanzania the fourth country in benefiting from Norfund projects,” he stated. Norfund is a subsidiary of the Norwegian government responsible for investing capital and expertise in creating various sustainable projects in developing countries with the aim of contributing to economic and social development, explained Mr Thorleifsson. The visit provided an opportunity for both parties to discuss how best to improve their priority areas in the investment sector Source: Daily News

The African Union-led agreement is designed to establish the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area, encompassing a combined economy of $2.5-trillion A truck and trailer drives into a Beitbridge customs and immigration control point on the SA border with Zimbabwe. Picture: REUTERS Nyoni Nsukuzimbi drives his 40-tonne Freightliner for just more than half a day from Johannesburg to the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe. At the frontier town — little more than a petrol station and a KFC — he sits in a line for two to three days, in temperatures reaching 40°C, waiting for his documents to be processed. That’s only the start of a journey Nsukuzimbi makes maybe twice a month. Driving 885km farther north gets him to the Chirundu border post on the Zambian frontier. There, starting at a bridge across the Zambezi River, trucks snake back miles into the bush. “There’s no water, there’s no toilets, there are lions,” says the Zimbabwean. He leans out of the Freightliner’s cab over the hot asphalt, wearing a white T-shirt and a weary expression. “It’s terrible.” By the time he gets his load of tiny plastic beads — the kind used in many manufacturing processes — to a factory on the outskirts of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, he’s been on the road for as many as 10 days to traverse just 1,600km. Nsukuzimbi’s trials are typical of truck drivers across Africa, where border bureaucracy, corrupt officials seeking bribes, and  myriad regulations that vary from country to country have stymied attempts...

Conference is being hosted jointly by Pakistan and Kenya and will also be attended by dignitaries from other African States. Conference will provide an important opportunity for Pakistani and African businesses to interface, identify the areas for enhanced engagement, and develop proposals for customized economic collaboration. During the visit, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will hold meetings with the Kenyan leadership including Cabinet Secretaries for Foreign Affairs & International Trade, African Community and Northern Corridor Development. Source: IPPMEDIA

Speaking during a seminar dubbed ‘The first annual Islamic women conference on Tanzania’s industrialization Agenda,’ NBC’s head of affluent banking, Ashura Waziri said through its B-Club network, the bank has launched a special program now in its third year aimed at building capacity for entrepreneurs including women. The seminar which was crafted under auspices of the Muslim umbrella body Bakwata and sponsored by NBC, and held in Dar es Salaam last week, brought together over 3,000 women from diverse backgrounds and featured some of the country’s top female entrepreneurs. “We have succeeded to build capacity for many entrepreneurs through training done in partnership with stakeholder from institutions including Tanzania Revenue Authority, Tanzania Trade Authority, Small Industries Development Organisation,  Tanzania Investment Centre, Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Tanzania Bureau of Standards and National Social Security Funds, to name but a few,” she noted. “We conduct all our capacity building programmes for the business community through NBC B-Clubs hence would like to call on entrepreneurs with customized needs for business skills to get in touch with any of our branches spread around the country,” Waziri added. Opening the seminar on behalf of Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, Angela Kairuki who is Minister of State at Prime Minister’s Office said the government is ready to make extra efforts to create an environment conducive for women to invest in industrialization projects. During the event, Ilala MP and newly appointed Minister of State in President’s Office Environment and Union hon. Musa Azan Zungu...

There has been much hype about a major Africa investment summit being hosted by the UK. Attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and an array of royals, a great deal of hopeful win-win-win rhetoric abounded linked to forging new partnerships for a post-Brexit future.At the summit, Ghana, it seems, is being given top treatment as a favoured destination, while Zimbabwe appears to have been snubbed despite being “open for business”.UK aid policy these days is focused on promoting UK trade interests abroad, with the government adopting a global business promotion approach for UK firms. The linking of aid and trade, of course, has a history in Britain.In 1994 the Pergau dam scandal – in which aid was used as a sweetener for an arms deal – led to the commitment to untie aid. It also led to the establishment of a separate development department and an Act of Parliament specifying how aid must be spent. This consensus on aid since the mid-1990s, however, is now under threat. Trade and investment can, of course, help reduce poverty, promote women’s empowerment and be good for children’s rights.But the opposite may be true too. There are many different business models – and so labour, environmental and rights regimes – with very different outcomes. We’ve been looking at some of these issues over the last few years across several projects.All were funded by the UK’s Department for International Development. The project compared three broad types of commercial agricultural investment: estates and plantations; medium-scale commercial farms;...