The Kenya Revenue Authority has proposed amendments to some laws to help it fight smuggling through the port of Mombasa. The authority cited failure to police Kenya’s borders, which have become increasingly porous, as enabling the entry of illegal goods, including wildlife trophies. The Parliamentary committee of Environment and Natural Resources visited the port on Thursday to establish why it has become a transit point for illegal goods. The deputy commissioner of Customs, Nicholas Kinoti, said there is a need to amend the laws that have allowed illegal trade to flourish. “For instance, an export manifest is valid for 30 days and we are asking parliament to amend the law and reduce it to 14 days. This will ensure that cargo does not stay for too long at the port before it is exported,” he said. On April 20, four tonnes of ivory was seized at Bangkok’s main port in a container shipped from Mombasa port, but originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo, destined for Laos. And on April 25, 511 pieces of ivory, weighing over three tonnes and worth $6 million, were found in Bangkok, Thailand, in a container marked as “tea leaves” transported from Mombasa and also destined for Laos. The East African Tea Trade Association had entered into an agreement with KRA in which tea containers were not subjected to scanning due to the high volumes exported daily. Instead, they were loaded under the supervision of Customs officers, a loophole that ivory traders are said to...

Infrastructure development is the key highlight in this year’s national budgets for East African Community partner states. A big chunk of the governments’ money has been allocated to construction of roads, railways, an oil pipeline, harmonisation of axle load controls and service automation at border points. Most of the countries’ outlays are expected to support ongoing infrastructure development in roads, standard gauge railway, ports, energy and security. A part of this development budget will be funded by project loans and grants from development partners, while the balance will be financed from domestic resources. However, as per the budgets, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Union are financing most infrastructure projects with a regional dimension. The East African countries have been negotiating with the development partners as well as individual countries, particularly China and India, in efforts to raise the required resources. The regional infrastructure projects are expected to cost at least $100 billion in the 2015/2016 financial year. Uganda has a budgetary allocation of Ush101 billion ($32.5 million) for power projects; Ush35 billion ($11.3 million) for the acquisition of land for construction of the oil refinery and Ush4.5 billion ($1.45 million) for the Kampala-Kigali standard gauge railway line. Uganda will also invest heavily in scaling up oil and gas exploration and production, build petroleum infrastructure and the related pipelines for distribution, operations and management, development of an oil refinery and the development and implementation of a communications strategy for the oil and gas industry in the...

South Africa and the other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations need jobs, growth and greater competitiveness. Europe needs jobs, growth and greater competitiveness. The US too, needs much the same. Better trading terms are key to securing these goals for businesses and consumers. The World Trade Organisation plays a key role in the adjudication of multilateral trade agreements and their implementation and enforcement, but it has not been as dynamic in recent years — with the failure so far of the Doha Round — in the negotiation of major multilateral deals. It secured the Bali trade facilitation deal recently with helpful Customs progress, but even that was a somewhat tortuous process. Bilateral, pluri-lateral and issue-specific deals are, therefore, filling the negotiations void left by the WTO. They are aimed at driving progress and helping to prevent any nascent protectionism. The EU and US have both concluded deals with Korea. And the EU with Canada and with Singapore and, on goods for example, with the East African Community. The EU has embarked on a major bilateral programme with the US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — a potentially landmark agreement, going beyond tariffs into the depth of regulatory coherence and convergence, Japan, some ASEAN and Latin American nations, and potentially India. It has also started an investment agreement dialogue with China, and is now looking to overhaul its free trade deal with Mexico. The US has done likewise, including its flagship Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 12 nations including...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Trade associations and senior officials from East Africa are considering introducing an international trade system to enable freer transportation of goods between neighboring countries, officials have said. Commonwealth Secretariat said the officials from the region are due to meet in Tanzania next week to address national and regional issues relating to implementing the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) system in East Africa. "This meeting will provide a crucial platform to work towards embedding a standardized system in local and regional infrastructure," Commonwealth Secretariat’s Deputy Secretary- General Deodat Maharaj said in a statement sent to Xinhua in Nairobi. Maharaj said the Secretariat will continue to support trade facilitating measures in Sub-Saharan Africa, helping countries establish mutually beneficial systems that will create enhanced economic opportunities for the people of the region. The June 8-9 meeting serves as an important initiative to facilitate trade and thus boost economic growth in East Africa. The TIR system, which was established by the UN Economic Commission for Europe in 1975, was designed to allow unhindered transport of goods between countries, mainly by road. The initiative replaces time consuming border checks with the TIR carnet – a universal permit that complies with international standards and provides customs officials with necessary guarantees. Maharaj noted that formalizing trade facilitating measures would boost economic growth in the region, but greater collaboration would be necessary to achieve this. He said 70 countries across the world have signed up to the TIR convention while more than 40,000 international transport operators...

CAIRO: The eighth meeting of the biggest African economic blocs’ tripartite summit has launched Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, to establish a free trade zone between the 26 member states, Youm7 reported. The African blocs are Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC.) The meeting will witness the signing of the African Trade Zone (AFTZ) agreement between Africa’s top three economic blocks, which will be merged into a new 26-nation free trade zone. An official meeting between trade ministers of the 26 African states is to be held Monday and the meetings will end by the presidential summit on June 10, according to Egyptian Commercial Service chairman, Ali al-Leithy. Presidents of the countries are to arrive in Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday, preparing to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s meeting with them Wednesday, Youm7 reported. “Hosting an event that big assures that Egypt regains its leading role in the African continent,” Leithy said. Moreover, a press conference will be held on Monday, in the presence of Egypt’s Minister of Trade, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour and the ministers of the 26 countries, to announce the results reached during the close discussions. This agreement will facilitate reaching 625 million consumers from South Africa to Egypt, and create a free trade union comprising more than 60 percent of the continent’s economic activity, according to Kenyan business newspaper Business Daily Africa. Source: The Cairo Post

Cape Town (AFP) - The launch of a free trade agreement by three African economic blocs in Egypt this week will be an important step towards a potentially game-changing common market spanning the continent, supporters say. The deal between the East African Community, Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa will create a market of 26 countries with a population of 625 million and gross domestic product of more than $1 trillion. The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) will be inaugurated at a summit of heads of state and government on Wednesday in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt after four years of negotiations to establish a framework for tariff preferences and other commitments. "The launch of the TFTA is a significant milestone for the African continent," the South African government said. "We believe that this sends a powerful message that Africa is committed to its economic integration agenda and in creating a conducive environment for trade and investment." The move was welcomed by business leaders at the World Economic Summit for Africa in Cape Town last week, with participants highlighting the fact that just 12 percent of African countries' total trade is with each other -- compared to some 55 percent in Asia and 70 percent in Europe. "The tripartite trade agreement is really important as a first step for Africa... which then can engage with the European Union and others on a global basis," Michael Rake, BT Group chairman and a co-chair of the forum, said....

NAIROBI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Trade associations and senior officials from East Africa are considering introducing an international trade system to enable freer transportation of goods between neighboring countries, officials said on Friday. Commonwealth Secretariat said the officials from the region are due to meet in Tanzania next week to address national and regional issues relating to implementing the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) system in East Africa. "This meeting will provide a crucial platform to work towards embedding a standardized system in local and regional infrastructure," Commonwealth Secretariat's Deputy Secretary- General Deodat Maharaj said in a statement sent to Xinhua in Nairobi. Maharaj said the Secretariat will continue to support trade facilitating measures in Sub-Saharan Africa, helping countries establish mutually beneficial systems that will create enhanced economic opportunities for the people of the region. The June 8-9 meeting serves as an important initiative to facilitate trade and thus boost economic growth in East Africa. The TIR system, which was established by the UN Economic Commission for Europe in 1975, was designed to allow unhindered transport of goods between countries, mainly by road. The initiative replaces time consuming border checks with the TIR carnet – a universal permit that complies with international standards and provides customs officials with necessary guarantees. Maharaj noted that formalizing trade facilitating measures would boost economic growth in the region, but greater collaboration would be necessary to achieve this. He said 70 countries across the world have signed up to the TIR convention while more than 40,000...

Dar es Salaam. Increased export of goods and services made in Tanzania is what the economy needs to move to the next level in the wake of the weakening shilling. That is exactly what the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) has been advocating for, for many years culminating in the introduction of a project to tackle Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) in 2012. The project has been advocating for removal of NTBs that have been impeding transit trade and exportation of products originating from Tanzania to the East African Community Region and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) since 2012. The project aims at enhancing the mechanism through which the NTBs are identified, reported, monitored with an ultimate goal of elimination in order to create a conducive environment for the smooth flow of trade within Tanzania and in the East African region as a whole. As Tanzania’s Private Sector focal point for (NTBs), TCCIA through the financial support of Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) amounting to $1.2 million have received technical support, supply of important equipment including computers, servers, scanners and facilitation of various project related trainings, seminars, meetings and promotional campaigns. Through this project, TCCIA has managed to develop two systems that have been helpful in creating a conducive business environment by lowering the cost of doing business in Tanzania and in the EAC region as a whole. The first system; NTBs, SMS and Online Reporting and Monitoring System is an IT based tool that enables exporters and...

Tanzania has awarded rail contracts worth $9bn to a consortium of Chinese firms led by China Railway Materials (CRM), with construction to begin as early as this month. Tanzanian transport minister Samuel Sitta told the country’s parliament on 30 May that the consortium had been awarded a contract to build a 2,600km standard gauge railway from Dar es Salaam to the country’s western borders. It was not clear what route the line or lines will follow, but the principal route for development is the central corridor between the port of Dar es Salaam and the future deepwater port of Bagamoyo, and the land bridge between lakes Tanganyika and Victoria. Sitta said 10% of the funding for the project would be raised by the consortium with the remainder coming from bank loans. He added that Tanzania had signed a framework agreement with China Railway No 2 Engineering Group to build a rail link between the southern port of Mtwara and coal and iron ore developments being undertaken by a Chinese group, to the southern port of Mtwara near big offshore natural gas discoveries. Chinese mining group Sichuan Hongda is involved in a $3bn joint venture with Tanzania to mine coal and iron ore. Race to the middle of Africa The quick start of the project reflects the race to develop rail and port infrastructure in east African countries. In particular, Tanzania is competing with Kenya, its northern neighbour, to build rail links with the Great Lake states of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi...

Traders from the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and South African Development Community (SADC) may soon trade freely across borders if their heads of states sign a tripartite agreement next week. Speaking on the sidelines of the Trade Mark East Africa stakeholder forum at Serena Conference Centre, trade minister Amelia Kyambadde said all contentious issues have been ironed out and that heads of state of the three regional blocs will, on June 10, sign the Free Trade Area agreement. “The contentious issues included dispute settlement and rules of origin, which is partially done,” he said. If signed, it will pave way for the creation of a larger market to boost intra-regional trade and reduce the cost of doing business. The signing had been postponed twice. It had been planned for December last year but was pushed to mid-February 2015, as SADC reportedly requested for a postponement to allow for further internal consultations. It was again deferred from February to June. Some trade analysts are sceptical whether Uganda will reap meaningful benefits from a larger market yet it has failed to fully exploit the EAC market. “The agreement will open us to bigger economies like South Africa; the question is can we handle yet we still have challenges with Kenya under the EAC and Egypt under COMESA,” a source who asked not to be named for fear of being labelled a saboteur, said. The source added that Uganda will become a supermarket for...