News Categories: Tanzania News

S. Sudan, Somalia request to join EAC on talks agenda

South Sudan and Somalia’s applications to join the East African Community (EAC) is one of the main agendas the regional heads of States will be discussing today in Nairobi. The 16th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State will be held Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi. “Negotiations for the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the EAC, verification of the application of the Federal Republic of Somalia will be priority matters on agenda,” EAC secretary general Dr Richard Sezibera said. Last year, the government of South Sudan pleaded with the EAC member states not to reject them because of the violence that had engulfed the country. The Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan, Mr James Wani Igga, while meeting the EAC high level technical mission, said: “South Sudan, being a young nation, still needs support and integration from the “older” nations within the region”. In June 2011, South Sudan applied to join the bloc, and a verification Committee from the EAC visited the country a year later to establish its level of conformity to the EAC regulations. However, in April last year, South Sudan halted negotiations because of the war that broke out towards the close of 2013. Source: The East African

Leaders call for faster reforms in EAC

East African Community (EAC) Heads of State on Friday took note of a revised roadmap for the completion of the EAC institutional review exercise and directed the Council of Ministers to ensure that the process was finalized within the revised timeframe. They made the call during the ordinary Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, which, according to a final communiqué, directed the Council of Ministers to submit final recommendations during the next Summit. Nathan Ngoga Gashayija, Director of the EAC Programmes Coordination Unit in Rwanda’s Ministry of EAC Affairs, said that ministers had recommended that the exercise is finished as soon as possible. “In the ministerial meeting, before the Summit, it was recommended that the exercise is done by April but I don’t know if this was later changed,” Gashayija said, adding: “Everybody wants this concluded”. The Council in 2009 directed the Secretariat to undertake a comprehensive study and propose institutional reforms to boost efficiency. Last month, the Accounts Committee of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) established that the long overdue review to align EAC institutions with the expanding mandate of the bloc was costing the Community a lot of money. MP Peter Mutuku Mathuki (Kenya), a member of the Eala Accounts Committee, said the exercise was basically about assessing the capacity of personnel and resources. The Assembly noted that the delay was negatively impacting on the implementation of the Common Market Protocol, the second stage of the regional integration process that involves free movement of goods, labour, services and...

Leaders agree to lower call tariffs within EAC by July

Charges for telephone calls across East Africa are set to reduce in July, when countries abolish roaming fees following a directive by the heads of state. The East African Community Heads of State Summit in Nairobi resolved that, following the implementation of the One Network Area by Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, all the EAC countries should harmonise their calling rates on all networks by July. Calls within the network have already reduced by 12 US cents per minute while there are no charges for incoming calls since the One Network Area was implemented last year. “We acknowledge that the high cost of roaming calls within the East African partner countries is unnecessary and an impediment to trade and communication in our Community. It is unacceptable that calling outside our continent is much cheaper than communicating within the region. In the spirit of East African integration, innovative interventions leading to substantial reduction of calling charges are overdue,” said Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta. There have been ongoing negotiations to remove the interconnectivity fees charged by operators for international voice and data traffic, with roaming charges within the EAC to be cut by 60 per cent. To meet the deadline set by the EAC presidents, the Council of Ministers has already adopted the principles and methodology for determining reduced, harmonised EAC roaming rates and a plan of activities that will ensure the reduced rates are in place by the set date. “The implementation of One Network Area by Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda is...

Video conferencing system expected to save EAC secretariat and member states $1.3m annually

NAIROBI, Kenya, 20th February 2015 – The East Africa Community member states have unveiled a state of the art video conferencing system which is aimed at drastically reducing the staff and travel costs at the EAC secretariat and member states and ensuring cost-efficiency gains in communication and decision-making. The launch which was held during the 16th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of States at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, was presided by the chair of the summit H.E Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and flanked by his fellow heads of state from the region; H.E. Pierre Nkurunzinza, President of Republic of Burundi, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Republic of Kenya, H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Republic of Rwanda and H.E. Yoweri Museveni, President of Republic of Uganda. Also in attendance was Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera, Secretary General, EAC, Phyllis Kandie, Cabinet Secretary of Tourism, Commerce and East African Affairs and Frank Matsaert, CEO, TradeMark Africa (TMA). TMA provided funding for the system to a tune of $1.8million. Since 2011, TMA has been implementing a programme of support aimed at strengthening the technical and institutional capacity of the Secretariat. As part of a broad institutional reform programme that is on-going, and particularly as part of the Secretary General’s drive to realise cost-efficiency gains in communication and decision-making, the Council approved the acquisition and installation of a Video Conferencing System (VCS) for the Community. The key benefits are enhanced efficiency in communication and savings...

East African Community initiates process to establish political federation

Kenya: East Africa Heads of State will tomorrow appoint a committee of experts to draft a constitution to guide the establishment of a political federation in the region. The move to appoint the committee with members drawn from the five countries is part of the 30th extra-ordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers report to be presented to the presidents for consideration and approval tomorrow. The meeting will be held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). The Secretary General East African Community ( EAC) Secretary General Richard Sezibera said the Heads of State will approve the initiation of a constitution-making process and a road map for the regional bloc political federation. “Negotiations for the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the EAC, verification of the application of the Federal Republic of Somalia, progress towards establishment of a one area network for East Africa and implementation of the directive of the summit on extension of jurisdiction of the East African court of justice are priority matters to be discussed,” he said.. President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of of Rwanda are expected to join President Uhuru Kenyatta at the 16th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State. EAC secretariat A senior official at the EAC secretariat, who did not want to be quoted as the matter is yet to be discussed by the Presidents, said the proposal to select a committee of experts was agreed during the...

16th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State to be Held on 30th November in Nairobi

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 20 November 2014: The Sixteen Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State will be held on 30 November 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya. The 16th Summit will be preceded by the 3rd EAC Retreat of the Heads of State on Infrastructure Development and Financing on 29 November 2014, also in Nairobi, Kenya. The 16th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit will among others consider; Annual Report of the Council of Ministers for the period December 2013 to November 2014; Report of selected priority matters namely; the EAC Institutional Review; Modalities on the Sustainable Financing Mechanisms for the East African Community; Negotiations for the Admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the East African Community; Verification of the Application of the Federal Republic of Somalia to Join the East African Community; Initiation of a Constitution-making process and a Road Map for the EAC Political Federation; Progress Towards the Establishment of a One Area Network for East Africa; and Implementation of the Directive of the Summit on Extension of Jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice. The change of Chairmanship is also expected at the 16th Ordinary Summit. The Republic of Kenya is the current Chair of the regional bloc. At the 3rd EAC Retreat on Infrastructure Development and Financing, the Heads of State will receive reports on the status of implementation of the directives issued at the 2nd Retreat; implementation of the priority projects identified at the 2nd Retreat; and a...

New levy on imports to finance regional projects

The government has approved a draft law that seeks to impose a new levy on goods imported from outside the East African Community (EAC) in order to collect funds needed for regional infrastructure projects. The draft law establishing the Infrastructure Development Levy on imported goods was approved by last week's Cabinet meeting. According to the proposed law, all imported goods (from outside EAC), except those exempted under the law, are subject to a levy of 1.5 per cent on the customs value of imported goods. The government says the levy "is intended to mobilise funds for regional infrastructure projects that will assist in improving the infrastructure and reduce the cost of transport and the cost of doing business in the region." The regional infrastructure projects to be funded include the railway and energy networking infrastructure such as electricity grids and oil pipelines, which are being pursued under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects initiative. "To run these big projects, countries need huge financing. With the view to overcome this problem, EAC Heads of State introduced the idea to establish a levy on imports from outside the bloc to finance the projects," a Cabinet paper, a copy of which The New Times has seen, reads in part. The draft law approved by the Cabinet says the levy on goods imported will be collected at Customs points by Rwanda Revenue Authority in accordance with the customs legislation and deposited into a sub account of the Treasury. Although the draft law is yet to...

EAC Secretary General-Kenya private sector discuss ways to improve business environment in the region

Arusha — The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera this morning engaged, in a dialogue, Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) of Businesses in the Republic of Kenya on how to improve the integration process and the business-operating environment in the EAC bloc. While hosting over 50 CEOs for breakfast dialogue at the Sarova Stanley Hotel in Nairobi, the Secretary General noted that the intra-regional trade expanded from US dollars 1617.1 million in 2005 to US dollars 3800.7 million in 2010, and that the EAC total trade with the rest of the world maintained an upward trend by posting a growth rate of 8.3 percent in 2013 compared to what was recorded in 2012. On the investment front, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to EAC increased by 6.6 percent to US$ 3.7 billion in 2013 compared to what was recorded in 2012. He said that in order to maintain this momentum in the integration process, improvement in EAC's competitiveness has to be given the due attention by all stakeholders. He urged the private sector to dedicate this year 2015 to issues that affect the business environment in the region that could be brought to the attention of the EAC Heads of State for their interventions at their Summit on 30 November. Amb. Sezibera urged for the support of the private sector in ensuring that headways are made in areas not limited to total liberalization of free movement of labor and services (removal of work permit) and the...

Trading Out of Poverty in East Africa – Making it Happen

The Saana Institute partnered with the Trade Out of Poverty All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to organise a seminar on trade, development and poverty reduction in East Africa on the 11th of February at the House of Commons. The event featured Frank Matsaert, Chief Executive Office of TradeMark Africa (TMA), Patrick Obath, Board Director for TMA and Director of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), and Lisa Karanja, Senior Director, Business Competitiveness at TMA. The debate was chaired by Robin Walker, Member of Parliament and the Trade Out of Poverty APPG. TMA is a pioneering $600 million Aid for Trade initiative, focused on increasing physical access to markets, enhancing the trade environment, and improving business competitiveness in the region. Funded by the Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, TMA works on reforms to improve border management, product standards, transport and distribution that will bring about vast benefits for East African economies by significantly lowering trade costs. In his presentation, Frank Matsaert highlighted some of the structural transport and trade issues hindering the growth of East African economies – poor road and port infrastructure, delays at border posts, low capacity of customs agencies, corruption and roadblocks. It can cost more than $5000 to import and export a container to and from Rwanda, in comparison to $300 for inland China. As showcased by Mr Matsaert, TMA’s approach has been to focus on the main trade arteries of the region, the North and Central Corridors. It...

TradeMark Africa launches Logistics Innovation for Trade Fund in Europe

Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 12th February 2015: TradeMark Africa (TMA), an organisation supporting the growth of trade in the East African region, today announced the European launch of its Logistics Innovation for Trade (LIFT) fund – a completely new source of financing for transport and logistics companies interested in doing business in the East African Community (Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania). The LIFT challenge fund – which is managed by TMA with funding support from the UK’s Department for International Development – provides grants ranging from US$200,000 to US$750,000 to companies that are operating (or interested in operating) in the East African Community (EAC) to develop and test new ideas that could reduce the cost and time of transport and logistics in the region. Speaking at the European launch event, Frank Matsaert, CEO of TMA, said, “TMA works closely with governments, the private sector and civil society to unlock East Africa’s economic potential through increased market access, an enhanced trade environment and greater competitiveness. Through our European launch we hope to attract new investment in East Africa to improve logistics and build on a promising and profitable sector.” The LIFT fund is open to companies from all over the world. Applications are particularly welcomed from logistics and transportation companies in the world’s leading logistics hubs, including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium. The Rotterdam launch event was attended by representatives of companies including Finlays, the International Road Transport Union and Royal Haskoning. In recent years, the economies of...