This presentation was made by Ms. Gloria Atuheirwe of Trade Mark East Africa during the Virtual public forum on the Plight of Women Traders during the COVID-19 pandemic; Trade in Services, Trade in Goods and the Policy Environment held on Thursday, 10th September 2020. [download id="55709"] Read original article

Arusha — Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy, is keen on increased trade links with the East African Community (EAC). Outgoing Nigerian High Commissioner to Tanzania Sahabi Issa Gada, said his country was ready for deeper relations with the EA bloc. "There is a need to encourage deeper integration through business exchanges," he said when he paid a visit to the EAC headquarters here. Dr Gada, who was also accredited to the EAC, said increased trade between the two sides would boost the economies of the same. He did not give any statistics but trade between Nigeria, also the most populous country in Africa, is often reported to below. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nigeria's economy is worth more than $ 500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity respectively. It is often seen as a 'Giant of Africa' owing to its large population of 206 million, a strong economy and an emerging market by the World Bank. EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko stressed the need for stronger collaboration between EAC and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas He said although the EAC has made some milestones, it was now bound to focus on a few priority areas "that will produce impactful results to the lives of EA citizens". He added: "Integration is not an easy movement as it needs vision, courage and commitment of the partner states to propel the agenda." He stressed the need for Ecowas and EAC to...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 12- The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has launched a new COVID-19 cross-border trade report urging governments on the continent to adopt and harmonize policies that will help continent strike an appropriate balance between curbing the spread of the virus and facilitating emergency and essential trade. Titled Facilitating cross-border trade through a coordinated African response to COVID-19, the report says continued inefficiencies and disruptions to cross-border trade presented significant challenges for Africa’s fight against COVID-19, and risked holding back the continent’s progress towards the attainment of the sustainable development and goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063. Maintaining trade flows as much as possible during the pandemic will be crucial in providing access to essential food and much-needed medical items and in limiting negative impacts on jobs and poverty, said Stephen Karingi, Director of the ECA’s Regional Integration and Trade Division (RITD) that penned the report. To curtail the rapid spread of the virus, African nations introduced lockdowns and various restrictions that negatively affected cross-border and transit freight transportation. The border restrictions and regulations have helped minimize infections and deaths across the continent but had a negative impact on cross-border trade and economic activity, hindering both significantly. The report recommends that African nations should cooperate and harmonize COVID-19 border regulations to reduce delays, while not undermining the safety of trade. It proposes fast tracking implementation of existing Regional Economic Community (REC) COVID-19 guidelines, including establishing regional coordinating committees with the primary task of addressing operational issues at national borders....

Tanzania and Uganda have signed an agreement allowing for the construction of a 1,445 km (898 miles) crude oil pipeline. The $3.5bn (£2.7m) project will connect Uganda's oil fields to Tanzania's port of Tanga. The signing ceremony was attended by the presidents of both countries. Oil reserves were found in Uganda in 2006 but production has been delayed partly by a lack of infrastructure including an export pipeline. A start date for construction has not yet been announced for what is set to become East Africa's first major oil pipeline. But there are warnings the project could come at a huge cost to some Ugandan communities. Uganda country profile More than 12,000 families risk losing their land and livelihoods, according to a joint report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Oxfam. Conservationists have also warned that ecosystems are at risk from the drilling in Uganda's nature reserves. French oil giant Total is leading the plans along with China's CNOOC, and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania. Sunday's ceremony comes days after Total, the majority shareholder in Uganda's oil fields, said it had reached an agreement on the pipeline with Uganda's government. About 80% of the pipeline will run through Tanzania and the project is expected to create more than 18,000 jobs for Tanzanians, Reuters news agency quotes government spokesman Hassan Abassi as saying. Read the original article

Summary Trade is a force for good. So, when we see the trend towards protectionism, we should all worry. The world is at a crossroads, on matters trade. Everywhere, more measures are being taken to ‘protect’ domestic economies from ‘unfair’ competition. And these is often playing well with domestic audiences, encouraging those in charge to double down and do more of the same. If you doubt this, here’s a startling fact: In 2009, following the financial crisis, only 0.7 per cent of imports into G20 countries faced new restrictive measures, a figure which by 2019 had risen to 10.3 per cent. In short, some of the world’s richest countries are raising barriers to markets access for some of the poorest. Trade is a force for good. If you doubt this, ask any South Korean of a certain age, working women in Bangladesh, someone now in their 50s in many parts of China, many living in states that were part of the former Soviet Union, across swathes of Latin America, and in parts of north, east, west and southern Africa and many other parts of the globe. So, when we see the trend towards protectionism, we should all worry. There are still billions of people in the global South as yet left untouched by the benefits of the ability to trade more widely than their own domestic markets, and billions more who have taken steps along the trading path whose progress is threatened. Of course trade is not a panacea, far...

The East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and its Partner States have rolled out a Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS) in a virtual event held Tuesday. RECDTS is designed as a mobile phone application and will enable the issuance of the EAC COVID-19 digital certificates that are mutually recognised by Partner States, thus eliminating need for multiple testing as well as contributing to alleviating ongoing congestion at East Africa border crossing points. The RECDTS App is designed to stop Corona in its tracks along EAC key transport corridors. The roll out was witnessed by the EU Ambassador to Kenya H.E Simon Mordue and the Ministries of Health in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and the Ministries of East Africa Community in the Partner states. RECDTS provides a surveillance system to monitor long distance truckers crew health and enable contact tracing. It allows partner states to electronically share truck drivers’ COVID-19 test results; therefore, minimising need for multiple COVID-19 tests in a single trip. The reliance on manual certificates and delayed test results at the borders has been reported as one of the main reasons for costly long delays at border points, such as those witnessed in Busia, Malaba, Nimule and Elegu. Some of the delays have caused tail backs of trucks measuring tens of kilometres in some cases. Also Read  WHO ramps up COVID-19 support to hotspot countries in Africa The EAC developed the app with funding from European Union, Global Affairs Canada, Danida, Finland, Netherlands and United Kingdom through...

The RECDTS App is designed to stop Corona in its tracks along EAC key transport corridors The East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and its Partner States today held a virtual roll out event to mark the technical completion and development of the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS). RECDTS is designed as a mobile phone application and will enable the issuance of the EAC COVID-19 digital certificates that are mutually recognised by Partner States, thus eliminating need for multiple testing as well as contributing to alleviating ongoing congestion at East Africa border crossing points. The roll out was witnessed by the Chair of the EAC Council of Minister, Hon Prof Nshuti Manasseh,  Ministers of Health from Kenya and Uganda as well as the EU Ambassador to Kenya, H.E Simon Mordue. RECDTS provides a surveillance system to monitor long distance truckers crew health and enables contact tracing. It allows Partner States to electronically share truck drivers’ COVID-19 test results; therefore, minimising need for multiple COVID-19 tests in a single trip. The reliance on manual certificates and delayed test results at the borders has been reported as one of the main reasons of long delays at border points, such as those witnessed in Busia, Malaba, Nimule and Elegu. Some of the delays have caused tail backs of trucks measuring tens of kilometres in some cases. The development of EAC the app with funding from European Union, Global Affairs Canada, Danida, Finland, Netherlands and United Kingdom through TradeMark Africa was in accordance with...

The launch of a regional electronic cargo and driver tracking system which had been slated to take place mid last month and later postponed was launched virtually on Tuesday, September 8. It is one of the measures introduced by the East African Community to prevent further spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) infections in the region. The virtual rollout of the East Africa Community Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS) was broadcast live from the Malaba-Malaba border crossing point between Uganda and Kenya and the Mirama Hills-Kagitumba border crossing point between Uganda and Rwanda. During the event, officials linked and transmitted a real-time demonstration of driver registration and verification of EAC digital certificate at the borders. The system will issue jointly recognised EAC Covid-19 digital certificates, which will improve efficiency in regional freight transport, by avoiding multi testing for drivers at all points of entry. Despite the borders being closed to human traffic in most regional countries, cargo transport has remained in operation, but drivers are subjected to multiple tests at borders which leads to delays. The EAC developed the App with funding from the European Union, Global Affairs Canada, Danida, Finland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom through TradeMark Africa and in accordance with the mandate given by a joint ministerial meeting of EAC ministers responsible for Health and EAC Affairs. The App provides a surveillance system to monitor the health of long-distance truck crew members and enable contact tracing. It allows partner states to electronically share truck drivers’...

The launch of the new Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) last week provides an excellent opportunity to reset the UK’s economic engagement with low- and middle-income countries. As the new department takes shape, it is crucial to consider the stated benefits of bringing development and diplomacy together through this merger of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). One area in which the benefits could be large and visible is economic development, but so far there has been little attention to the role of the FCDO as an economics ministry. This is perhaps surprising: DFID is rightly proud of its recent experience in managing economic development programmes such as Trademark East Africa and Nepal’s Economic Policy Incubator. A new set of essays, published last week by ODI, considers 10 ways the experience of the FCO and DFID could underpin economic policy in the FCDO. Ten new opportunities for the FCDO The essays offer 10 economic development proposals for an imaginative new approach to capitalise on mutual interest and help achieve development goals. They are: 1. Publish a coherent UK–Africa strategy This must help to reinvigorate UK-Africa trade and investment relationships following a decade of stagnation, during which time Africa has stepped up engagement with other parts of the world. Leaving the EU means the UK needs to consider new trading arrangements with African countries, which are set to integrate through the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The UK-Africa Investment Summit in January also needs follow up. It is time for an ambitious Africa strategy. 2....

...Lauds JPM for keeping economy open amid Covid-19 THE East African Business Council (EABC) has called for a deeper collaboration between the Public and Private sectors to boost East African Community (EAC) intra-trade. Also, the council has lauded President John Magufuli for a job well done, especially in spearheading major economic reforms in the country. Amid the global economic disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, EAC private sector wants to steer better relations as a strategy to boost trade and investment in the region. The leaders noted that the decision by President Magufuli to keep the economy open, offered the private sector a major relief in terms of business resilience as it also strengthened local supply chains. EABC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Peter Mathuki said that is the spirit for the region - both public and private sector to move forward and business to prosper. It came about after consultations of CEOs at a roundtable meeting organized by the EABC in collaboration with German Development Agency (GIZ) with a theme 'Creating Perspectives Project', convening companies' CEOs with an aim of deliberating on approaches that the private sector can explore to revamp businesses amid the pandemic. Tanzania took absolutely a different approach in dealing with Covid-19, by President Magufuli who seeks a second term in office led the nation in style, by ruling out lockdown, letting business go on but with taking reasonable protective measures and it paid handsomely. In spite of the situation in the bloc, Africa and world...