INEFFICIENCY and trade barriers can make the Dar es Salaam port lose substantial amount of business to its competitors in southern Africa, it was said in the city. The port handles cargo destined to several land locked countries including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and Uganda. The port is threatened by southern African ports including Walvis Bay of Namibia, Beira in Mozambique, Durban in South Africa and Angola. The concerns were raised at a meeting in Dar es Salaam by the Tanzania’s Ambassador to DRC, Mr Anthony Cheche, Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA) and Tanzania Drivers Workers Union (TADWU). Some of the challenges raised included delays at the Dar es Salaam port, congestions from the port to Misugusugu weighbridge, numerous police checkpoints, seven weighbridges from Dar es Salaam to Tandem. Despite the discussions with the respective authorities including the Police Force, checkpoints and corruption have continued to be among serious problems for smooth flow of business. Similarly, frequent systems failure at Tunduma border post and expensive parking slots on the Zambia side also contributes to increased cost of doing business. Ambassador Cheche supported transporters in their concern that competition between the Dar es Salaam port and southern African ports was becoming stiffer. “We need to carry out immediate research and act accordingly to resolve and protect the country from losing the colossal amount of business,” he said, adding that all the concerns raised by transporters will be referred to respective authorities for immediate action. He...

LUSAKA (Reuters) - China has lent Zambia and Tanzania $22.4 million to buy locomotives and rolling stock for a railway that carries copper to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam, a spokesman for the railway said on Tuesday. The loss-making line is an important route for copper exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa's top copper producer, but the firm transporting the metal struggles to pay its workers, prompting strikes. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has been hit by a slump in cargo and passenger traffic and undercapitalisation over the past decade. Its freight volumes plunged to less than 90,000 metric tonnes in the year to June from about 630,000 metric tonnes a decade earlier. Tanzania in October said it would inject 6 billion shillings ($3 million) into TAZARA. "The new locomotives are expected to uplift the current daily availability of mainline locomotives by 33 percent to an average of 16 locomotives," TAZARA spokesman Conrad Simuchile said in a statement. The funds are an interest-free loan from the Chinese government to Tanzania and Zambia to support TAZARA. The four new locomotives are expected to improve the operations of TAZARA, which has struggled with old, infrequently maintained equipment, Simuchile said. ($1 = 2,140.0000 Tanzanian shillings) Source: Reuters Africa

Tanzania has finally kicked off its much anticipated $11 billion port project at Mbegani creek in Bagamoyo, as it seeks to increase its capacity to handle regional cargo. The Bagamoyo facility is tipped to become the biggest port in East Africa – with capacity to handle 20 million containers annually by 2045. The facility will be located 75 km north of Dar es Salaam – the site of Tanzania’s main port, which is now suffering from severe congestion. In the first phase of the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2017, the quay, the container yards, the cargo terminals and all dredging work will be realised. The project is being funded by China Merchants Holdings International and Oman’s State Government Reserve Fund. A construction deal for the Bagamoyo Port and associated special economic zone was inked last October, about 19 months after a framework deal was signed in March 2013. Construction of the port will be a major boon for Tanzania, a country that is currently losing a lot of business opportunities due to the inefficiency of the Dar es Salaam Port – which handles 800,000 containers a year. The facility, which will cover about 800 hectares, will enable the country to compete with Kenya for investment and handling of cargo to and from Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Kenya is currently expanding its port in Mombasa and it is also planning to build a huge facility at Lamu as it prepares for stiff business competition from Tanzania. Source:...

The East African Community (EAC) countries are leveraging on a single online visa to help increase tourist arrivals in the region, Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto has said. Ruto told a tourism conference in Nairobi that Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, which had launched a single visa initiative earlier this year, were leveraging on technology to remove hurdles in the promotion of tourism in the region. "We are leveraging on technology to market the region as a single destination with diverse tourist attractions, and I assure our visitors that we will make it worthy their while," he said when he officiated at the opening of the 40th Conference of the Africa Travel Association (ATA). Ruto noted that the decision to issue a single visa for visitors coming to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda was a milestone in promoting the three countries as a single tourism destination. The lack of a regional common visa has been a major drawback towards marketing East Africa as a single tourist destination. Foreign tour operators had complained of cumbersome immigration procedures at border entry points for those who wish to cover various circuits in East Africa. Sources said the five East African Community countries, which also include Burundi and Tanzania, are also in the final stages of implementing a single visa. Ruto said that efforts put into the promotion of tourism in Kenya were bearing fruit, with tourist arrivals in the country hitting 1.13 million last year, up 5 percent year on year. Source: Coast Week

Despite popular opinion, Africa has been very active on the international trading stage, though results have been disappointing. At the ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia in 2013, African countries failed to push for their needs. After progress and losses, what is the place of Africa in the multilateral trading system as the continent heads into the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi, Kenya?
 As the world is rushing towards regional and mega-regional trade agreements, it is necessary to review the place and role of the African continent in all of its evolutions. These have already transformed international trade relations and set the next boundaries of the global economic governance system. Africa’s place in the multilateral trading system has often received special attention, even though ithas mostly focused on the contextual and factual analysis of the weakness of the continent’s contribution to global commercial transactions or the vagaries of the participation of African states in trade negotiations. There has been more than enough criticism suggesting that Africa is not making sufficient effort to take part in international trade. On the contrary, African countries merit a spotlight on their significant progress to open up to trade. A continent that has come a long way Africa’s place in the international trading system has often been simplified to a single statistic: less than 2 percent of international trade. The analyses that support the theory that African countries barely participate in international trade are mostly based on a quantitative approach. However, such a static approach hides...

EXPORTS from East African Community bloc to the United States, under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, will be increased by 50 per cent in five years, an official of the East Africa Trade and Investment Hub said yesterday. The director for trade promotion and AGOA Finn Holm-Olsen said they will also bring in $100 million (Sh12.02 billion) in new investment to the region, which will create about 10,000 jobs in the period through to 2019. He said the programme sponsored by the USAid will enable the business community in Kenya and the region to fully utilise AGOA. “We are looking to increase exports from the region to the US by 50 per cent. The $100 million comprises of new investments coming in and expansion of current businesses,” he said in an interview during a national capacity building forum to educate micro, small and medium-sized enterprises on the benefits of AGOA, in Nairobi. “In one year alone, the project has supported $81 million (Sh8.28 billion) in exports to the US under the AGOA,” he said. The AGOA Act provides African countries with free access to the US market. Kenya has mainly been exporting textiles and apparels, leather and fisheries, and processed agricultural products. Micro and Small Enterprises Authority chief executive Patrick Mwangi said many MSMEs have not benefited in the AGOA framework due to lack of information. He said most of the products that are being exported to the US under the AGOA are from the various export processing zones...

The East African Community (EAC) is optimistic that President John Magufuli will work tirelessly to iron out the differences and challenges facing the community. Speaking during the 11th graduation ceremony of Mount Meru University at the weekend, EAC’s Secretary General Richard Sezibera said he had hopes that the new regime had EAC’s agenda at heart and that it would step up efforts in sorting out the challenges facing members states. Ambassador Sezibera was responding to a request made by the varsity Vice Chancellor, Harrison Olan'g on the availability of resident permits for travelling lecturers within the EAC member states. Earlier in his speech, the Vice Chancellor was categorical that his institution was faced with the problem of resident permits for his staff arriving from other countries. According to the Vice Chancellor, processing permits has dragged for a long time, costing his institution time and money.   “I ask your good office to assure us on the availability of the permits and even making them accessible to us freely without any charges,” requested Olan’g. But in his response, Ambassador Sezibera assured the Vice Chancellor that President Magufuli would find a solution to the problem on working and resident permits besides ironing out other challenges facing the community. “It is my hope that Tanzania and Burundi as well will do the same to ensure that the community prospers,” noted the Secretary General.  Tanzania and Burundi are often considered as countries that have distanced themselves from the community earning the name ‘Coalition of the...

South Sudan will push for admission into the East African Community at the Heads of State Summit in two weeks time, despite having not met all the eligibility criteria. Government officials argue that Juba has already opened its economy to EAC members though questions on governance, democracy, human rights and security linger. Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who led a high level ministerial committee to the latest EAC session on South Sudan accession in mid-October, said that a technical committee had recommended that Juba “is now qualified” to join the bloc. The EastAfrican was unable to independently verify this because the committee’s report is being kept under wraps until it is presented to the EAC Council of Ministers meeting in November 15. “It is just like when Burundi and Rwanda were admitted in June 2007 while they had similar challenges, and managed to solve them from within,” said Dr Benjamin. “We believe that South Sudan has a better chance of resolving its challenges faster and more effectively as a member of the EAC.” In a briefing to parliament on October 26, the presidential advisor for economic affairs and co-chair of the High Level Committee on South Sudan Accession to the EAC, Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, said that the recommendations clearly state that there is a strong push by the ministers of EAC affairs for South Sudan to be admitted into the regional bloc within the shortest time possible. “While the ultimate decision lies with the heads of state, they will almost...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) officials have lauded Rwandan cross-border transporters for embracing the yellow card scheme, noting that it has helped local logistics firms to reduce costs, and ease movement of goods and persons within the region. Sindiso Ngwenya, the COMESA secretary general, said the number of subscribers under the scheme is growing annually, adding that the amount of claim compensations paid to road accident victims has also gone up. "Through the yellow card scheme, COMESA has contributed to region's competitiveness by reducing cross-border transport and transaction costs... It saves transporters and business community time and money," he added. This was in a speech read for him by COMESA's Berhane Gidy during the group's meeting on regional third party motor vehicle insurance in Kigali last week. The meeting attracted participants from all the 19 COMESA countries. The yellow card scheme is a regional third party motor vehicle insurance scheme for medical expenses resulting from road traffic accidents caused by visiting motorists. It also offers emergency medical cover for the driver and passengers of foreign trucks involved in traffic accidents. Speaking at the conference, Emmanuel Hategeka, the trade and industry ministry permanent secretary, said economic integration is essential to support the private sector, improve operations and ease cost of doing business. He added that COMESA has created a favourable legal, economic, political and social environment, "which opens up tremendous opportunities for business". Hategeka said major economic reforms have been implemented with the trade bloc, but called...

NAIROBI: Kenya's economy is not all doom and gloom, after all. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country's growth prospects and debt/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio are within acceptable levels. IMF further asserts that Kenya's current and projected growth prospects are better than those of her peers in the sub-Saharan African region. The Bretton Woods institution has tipped sub-Saharan Africa's economy to expand at 4.5 per cent in 2015. The institution has since downgraded Kenya's GDP growth for 2015 from 6.9 per cent to 6.5 per cent. Speaking during the launch of the Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya's IMF Resident Representative Armando Morales, downplayed fears that the country's debt-to-GDP ratio was spiraling out of control. "Debt in Kenya is classified by the IMF as low-distress risk. And to move to distress, you have to move through two other categories - moderate risk and high risk, and Kenya is below that. So it is very unlikely that the country will face a situation of distress in the coming years," said Mr Morales. no alarming bells He added the country's deficit is not alarming. He said:  "As long as the deficits for this year and the coming fiscal years remain projected at the same levels, then it is sustainable." He revealed that IMF has a programme in place to review the country's progress on maintenance of deficit.Morales' position was supported by Chris Kiptoo of Trademark East Africa who asked the Government to find a way to counter the...