Busia and Malaba are among the border points where officials from the chamber of commerce will be stationed to make cross-border trade easier. Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Richard Ngatia on Monday said establishing stations in such border points will go along way in boosting trade. He spoke during the launch of the Kenya Trade Week and Expo. Ngatia said the chamber has obtained a desk at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, through the Ministry of Trade, for efficient issuance of documents such as certificates of origin. Also targeted are Namanga, Isebania, Moyale, Mombasa and Eldoret to serve exporters. This comes after Deputy President William Ruto said despite a rise in trade volumes in recent years, the balance is not in favour of Kenya because the country imports more than it exports. He said there is a need for the country to seize the opportunity of access to free trade area market to bridge the trade gap. Interventions, such as the proposal by the KNCCI, would make export a less tedious task, shoring up volumes of trade in favour of the country. Building a case for the proposal to make clearance at the border point easy, Ngatia said an efficient and easy issuance of vital trade documents will increase revenue streams for the taxman. For example, Ngatia said, the automation of issuance of ordinary certificates of origin in 2015 increased the revenue collected from Sh1.6 million to Sh4.5 million per month. Further, as part of ensuring a widened access to international...

KAMPALA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Tax authorities of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday launched a Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) to reduce the risk of freight diversion between the place of origin and checkpoints. Dickson Kateshumbwa, commissioner of customs at Uganda Revenue Authority, said the DRC is a strategic market for Uganda and therefore the RECTS is important in regional trade facilitation. "This system enables revenue authority officers to know the goods in transit, and the tracking of the cargo from Mombasa (Kenyan seaport) will be very easy and goods will be cleared at the border of Uganda and the DRC once," said Kateshumbwa. Aime Nzoyihera, country director of an aid-for-trade organization TradeMark Africa (TMA), which is implementing the project, said the RECTS will be implemented in three phases: the launch of the Uganda office, the opening of the Goma office in eastern DRC, and the launch of the Kinshasa command center. "TMA remains committed to facilitating reduced barriers to trade in the region, particularly through enhancement of digital infrastructure which will promote increased trade in the Eastern African region," Nzoyihera added. The RECTS is now operational in four countries in the East African region, namely Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC. Source: xinhuanet.com

July 10—Ugandan logistic firms are teaming up with relevant government institutions to organize an expo intended to highlight bottlenecks and find solutions in the industry amidst moves for closer regional integration in the East African Community (EAC). “Right now, the sector is fragmented. There is also no specific regulations, or statistics on the sector. If we are going to participate competitively in the EAC and beyond, we must be organised as a sector in the areas I have mentioned,” Hussein Kiddedde, who chairs the Uganda Freight Forwarders Association (UFFA) said during news conference Tuesday. A notable characteristic of Uganda’s freight business was expressed in a 2017 report published by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), ‘Most of the cargo transport between Mombasa and Kampala occurs in an outbound direction, i.e. trucks driving towards Kampala are typically fully loaded while trucks driving in the direction of Mombasa are often empty’. UFFA, in partnership with the National Logistics Platform, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and the Ministry of Transport and Works is to hold the Second Regional Logistics Expo 2019 on August 21 in Kampala. Officials said they want to bring together the public and private sector to discuss developments, challenges and the way forward for the logistics sector. Private Sector Foundation-Uganda (PSFU) executive director, Gideon Badagawa said Uganda is well positioned to be a regional trade distribution hub. However he said there is a need for the logistics sector to reorganize due to its importance in the regional supply chain. “There is a...

10/07/2019 – Today, TradeMark Africa and the Danish Government have signed the Development Engagement Document/ MOU. The Government of Denmark is supporting Government of Uganda through TradeMark Africa to a tune of DKK 60 million (approximately USD 9million) over the four-year period from 2019 to 2022. The Head of Mission of the Danish Embassy, Majbrit Holm Jakobsen signed on behalf of the Danish Government, while TMA was represented by the Chief Technical Officer, Allen Asiimwe and the Country Director, Moses Sabiiti. The Head of Mission of the Danish Embassy, Majbrit Holm Jakobsen noted: “We have signed an agreement between DANIDA and TradeMark Africa Uganda Programme.  We are here to support the strategic plan for TradeMark so that they can continue doing the very good work that they have been doing in terms of making it easier to trade across borders in East Africa. DANIDA has been a long-time partner of TradeMark. We have worked with them for the last almost 10 years and have been very impressed with the results that they have been able to achieve over the years.” This engagement will support increased trade through removal of barriers and improvement of markets with focus on 1) Improved trading standards and reduced non-tariff barriers (NTB), 2) improved and more transparent trade processes and systems, and 3) improved trade regulatory environment. “Enhancing the collective power of women traders through associations, clusters and sectors is one of the biggest aspects of our (TradeMark EA) phase two because it makes it easier to interact with...

Leading East African planning, design, architecture and engineering team FBW Group is playing its part in the drive to transform the region’s logistics sector and boost trade opportunities. FBW is part of a consortium currently carrying out feasibility studies centred on the creation of special ‘trade and logistics clusters’ near borders and points of entry in countries across East Africa. Aid-for-trade organisation TradeMark Africa (TMA), funded by UK AID and other donors, is behind the strategy to create special industrial parks and export processing zones to attract investors and boost trade, stimulate growth and create more jobs and better jobs. It is looking to invest $400m to create a million new jobs by 2022 by reducing trade costs by 10 per cent and increasing exports by 25 per cent. FBW Group has operations in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, and a team of more than 30 professionals delivering high value construction and development projects in the region. It is part of a consortium led by international development consulting company IPE Global that is currently studying possible logistics cluster sites across a number of locations. FBW’s role is to examine the ‘buildability’ of sites and to undertake physical assessments to assess their potential and viability. Moving forward, the group will be involved in master planning schemes that are being taken forward and the preparation of designs for contractor tenders. FBW Group managing director Paul Moores, based in Kampala, said: “We’re delighted to be playing our part in this truly transformation project...

Last week, the UK joined countries from around the world at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) annual Aid for Trade Global Review, calling on our trading partners to help boost developing countries’ participation in the global trading system. Trade is a key driver of economic growth and can trigger positive changes in developing economies; helping to raise incomes, create jobs and lift people out of poverty. Thanks in no small measure to free and open trade, a billion people have been taken out of absolute poverty in one generation, boosting global prosperity and security. All of this is bolstered by developing countries’ membership of the WTO. In joining the world’s largest trade organisation, nations gain improved market access to almost every nation in the world; a cost-effective way to negotiate better trade terms with all 164 members at once; consistent and predictable trade rules that allow businesses to export and invest with confidence; and access to a fair mechanism to resolve disputes with other nations. As one of the world’s largest economies and most vocal advocates of free and fair trade, the UK is committed to ensuring that developing countries can participate fully in the global system. We must also ensure that development and global prosperity are at the heart of our trade policy.  We need a WTO which empowers all WTO members, including developing nations, to help build open and competitive markets that work for all of us. This means ensuring that developing countries have the knowledge, skills and...

Regional countries are set to increase market access for their agricultural products following the commencement of a new capacity building project to mainstream sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) priorities into national policies. The project is titled: ‘Mainstreaming SPS capacity building into the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and other National Policy Frameworks to Enhance Market Access’. The project has a budget of US$ 464,075 out of which US$ 390,075 is provided by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) a World Trade Organization (WTO) agency. The project covers five countries that are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Malawi. It is being implemented under the ‘Prioritizing SPS Investments for Market Access (P-IMA) framework, an initiative of the STDF. Kenya is the second country after Uganda, to start implementing the project with the inception meeting and high-level stakeholder dialogues. The events bring together experts from the private sector, relevant public sector departments and institutions of government to build consensus on the most critical SPS priorities and investments. The P-IMA framework is an evidence-based approach to inform and improve SPS planning and decision-making processes. It helps to link SPS investments to public policy goals including export growth, agricultural productivity, and poverty reduction. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Trade Dr Chris Kiptoo, represented by the Assistant Director of External Trade Mrs. Helen Kenani, opened the meeting. In his statement, he said the variation of SPS capacity across COMESA countries and the...

Construction of Gulu Logistics hub is set to commence in June next year, according to Uganda Railways Corporation (URC). The announcement came following a completion of the projects design by a local consultant UBUNTU and UK based Turner & Townsend. The US$29 million (Shs107.3 billion) hub is designed as a dry port with both rail and truck terminals. Construction is set to begin with phase one which covers 24 out of the 54 acre piece of land allocated by the URC and funded by European Union together with UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) through Trade Mark East Africa (TMA). The project will contain warehouses, container terminals and general lifting equipment’s. The facility shall be offering handling and storage services, space for stakeholders dealing with freight transport; freight forwarders, shippers and transport operators and accompanying services such as customs inspections, tax payment, maintenance and repair, banking and information communication technology. The land chosen for the project is adjacent to the current Gulu Railway Station. Several studies have shown that the city (Gulu) is served by international trunk roads linking Mombasa, Kampala, and Juba and it is also crossed by the international one-meter gauge railway.  The town has the largest airfield after Entebbe hence it offers bulk storage for goods and serves as a waiting point for cargo trucks. Upon completion, the hub is expected to facilitate logistic movement in Uganda through the Northern Region by reducing transport costs, improving efficiency in the movement of goods and serving South Sudan as well as the Democratic of Congo (DRC)....

Kigali 2 July 2019 (ECA) - In an effort to accelerate the implementation of the AfCFTA, Trademark East Africa and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) signed in  June 2019 a Memorandum of Understanding, which provides the two parties with the framework to collaborate, with the aim of paving the way for stronger cooperation in helping countries increase their levels of intra-regional trade and investments. To cement that partnership, the two institutions successfully collaborated in an event organised by TradeMark Africa under the topic:  Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Women and Youth are Crucial to Africa's Economic Transformation. The session was held during the 2019 European Development Days meeting on the 18th-19thJune in Brussels, During the meeting, Andrew Mold, Acting Director of ECA in Eastern Africa explained the ambitious nature of the AfCFTA, saying that AfCFTA is not, as its name denotes, simply a 'free trade area'. "It encompasses ambitions to proceed to a single unified continental market", he said. Mold stressed that the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers and harmonization of standards called for under the AfCFTA represent a unique opportunity to boost intra-regional trade and investment, allowing companies and farmers to tap into rapidly growing markets of Africa. "Sectors that are set to benefit the most are the labour-intensive manufacturing and services industries where women and youth are well represented," he emphasized. The Chief Technical Officer of TradeMark Africa, Allen Asiimwe, told the participants at the meeting that: 'Policymakers should start looking at the collective power...

Kigali 2 July 2019 (ECA) - In an effort to accelerate the implementation of the AfCFTA, Trademark East Africa and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) signed in June 2019 a Memorandum of Understanding, which provides the two parties with the framework to collaborate, with the aim of paving the way for stronger cooperation in helping countries increase their levels of intra-regional trade and investments. To cement that partnership, the two institutions successfully collaborated in an event organised by TradeMark Africa under the topic: Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Women and Youth are Crucial to Africa's Economic Transformation. The session was held during the 2019 European Development Days meeting on the 18th-19thJune in Brussels, During the meeting, Andrew Mold, Acting Director of ECA in Eastern Africa explained the ambitious nature of the AfCFTA, saying that AfCFTA is not, as its name denotes, simply a 'free trade area'. 'It encompasses ambitions to proceed to a single unified continental market', he said. Mold stressed that the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers and harmonization of standards called for under the AfCFTA represent a unique opportunity to boost intra-regional trade and investment, allowing companies and farmers to tap into rapidly growing markets of Africa. 'Sectors that are set to benefit the most are the labour-intensive manufacturing and services industries where women and youth are well represented,' he emphasized. The Chief Technical Officer of TradeMark Africa, Allen Asiimwe, told the participants at the meeting that: 'Policymakers should start looking at the collective power...