The share of intra-EAC trade to the total trade declined to 10.1 per cent from 11.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania continue to dominate intra-East African Community trade even though its value fell from $5.8 billion to $5.63 billion in the same period. Kenya’s total exports to Uganda over the 2011-2015 period stood at $3.28 billion, followed by Tanzania ($1.98 billion), Rwanda ($734.93 million) and Burundi ($303.83 million). Exports to South Sudan, which was admitted to the EAC in March this year stood at $71 million. Intra-EAC trade is mainly dominated by agricultural commodities such as coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, rice, maize, and wheat flour and manufactured goods such as, cement, petroleum products, textiles, sugar, beer and salt. Uganda remains a key market for Kenya’s exports, according to Kenya’s Economic Survey (2016). Similarly Kenya imported the most goods from Uganda at Ksh81.57 billion ($815 million) in the same period, followed by Tanzania ($748.64 million) and Rwanda ($36.45 million). But major imports came from South Africa, totalling $3.19 billion. Latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that Kenya’s combined exports to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda  dropped from $69.9 million   in January to $1.56 million in February, before rising to $88.8 million n March. Last year, a study by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa Community revealed that  the volume of Kenya’s exports to the EAC had fallen sharply largely due to unfair competition from Chinese traders and the country’s unfavourable taxation regime. Unfavourable taxation measures such as...

Famous for mountain gorilla and spectacular mountain scenery, Rwanda is set to host the annual Africa Travel Association (ATA) Congress to be taking place in Rwanda’s sprawling city of Kigali November this year. Bearing a theme of “Destination Africa: The Future of African Tourism”, the the ATA’s 41st Congress will be held in Kigali from November 14 to 17, bringing delegates from Africa, United States, Europe and other parts of the world. To be taking place in East Africa for three consecutive years, the ATA 41st Congress is set to focus the East African region as the single tourist destination in Africa and best for combined African safari. ATA 39th Congress was held in Kampala, Uganda in November 2014 and the ATA 40th Congress held in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in November last year. It will be the first time for Rwanda to host the ATA Congress and where the delegates will get a unique chance to observe Rwanda’s hospitality with a visit to a selected tourist hotspot in this fast growing African safari destination. Kenya is the first African and the East African state to host the first ATA Congress in 1976 just a year after the association was launched in New York the previous year, 1975, by a group of travel and airline executives. Other ATA Congress events which took place in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi were the ATA's 10th Annual Congress in 1985, ATA's 20th Annual Congress in 1995, ATA's 30th Annual Congress in 2005 and...

The East African Community Competition Authority (EACCA) will be operational from July with a mandate to curb unfair trade practices in the region and protect consumers from substandard goods. The authority will restrict trade practices and transactions that unduly limit fair competition. “The EACCA will commence operations in the 2016/2017 financial year and will act as a one-stop-centre in the enforcement of its provisions,” said Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation Susan Kolimba. Dr Kolimba said the Council of Ministers has appointed commissioners and a secretariat who are working on the modalities of EACCA operations. The East African Legislative Assembly approved $587,565 for the authority. In 2015, the EAC Council of Ministers adopted the East African Community Competition (Amendment) Bill, which provided for the establishment of the EACCA. The authority has jurisdiction in all the five partner states, while South Sudan will be covered at a later stage, as it is not fully integrated into the EAC. The EAC Competition Act, 2006, among other things, seeks to allow consumers to take class action against goods or services providers. It also seeks to seal loopholes that enable trade associations and firms operating across the region to engage in exclusive agreements, or form cartels, forcing consumers to pay higher prices for goods and services. Trade specialists say that while some EAC partner states have enacted national competition acts, these laws have proved inadequate to deal with cross-border and multi-jurisdictional competition cases. National competition laws and regulations are limited to political boundaries because they do...

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania continue to dominate intra-East African Community trade even though its value fell from $5.8 billion in 2013 to $5.63 billion in 2014. The share of intra-EAC trade to the total trade declined to 10.1 per cent from 11.1 per cent in the same period. Intra-EAC trade is mainly dominated by agricultural commodities such as coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, rice, maize, and wheat flour and manufactured goods such as, cement, petroleum products, textiles, sugar, beer and salt. Uganda remains a key market for Kenya’s exports, according to Kenya’s Economic Survey (2016). Kenya’s total exports to Uganda over the 2011-2015 period stood at $3.28 billion, followed by Tanzania ($1.98 billion), Rwanda ($734.93 million) and Burundi ($303.83 million). Exports to South Sudan, which was admitted to the EAC in March this year stood at $71 million. Similarly Kenya imported the most goods from Uganda at Ksh81.57 billion ($815 million) in the same period, followed by Tanzania ($748.64 million) and Rwanda ($36.45 million). But major imports came from South Africa, totalling $3.19 billion. Latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that Kenya’s combined exports to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda  dropped from $69.9 million   in January to $1.56 million in February, before rising to $88.8 million n March. Last year, a study by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa Community revealed that  the volume of Kenya’s exports to the EAC had fallen sharply largely due to unfair competition from Chinese traders and the country’s unfavourable taxation regime. Unfavourable taxation measures such...

During the recent East Africa and Dubai Agribusiness Roundtable meeting, representatives from the East African Community (EAC) joined Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Ethiopian International Office to discuss opportunities for cooperation and investment. In attendance at the meeting were Abdul Razak Mohammed Hadi, UAE Ambassador to Kenya, and representatives of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the Private Sector Federation Rwanda and the Chambers of Burundi, Tanzania Zanzibar and Uganda. The roundtable focused on the agribusiness industry, an industry of the utmost importance to the UAE, which imports 85 percent of its food from overseas markets. “The UAE is fully committed to increasing trade and economic development in the region and we have done this by offering excellent logistical and export/import free zones while helping African companies to carry out their trading activities with global traders through the country,” Hadi said. Omar Khan, director of the international offices of Dubai Chamber, was also in attendance and talked about the importance of the African continent as a strategic partner for Dubai’s business community. The chamber will open international offices in the continent to support private sector growth. Source: Gulf News

Romania’s Government aims to stimulate the country’s exports to Africa and has signed, together with other EU countries, an economic partnership agreement with the East African Community (EAC) states. Romania anticipates that the agreement will help it export Dacia Logan cars, communication equipment, mineral water to Burindi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, reports local Profit.ro. The Government also hopes that the partnership will help increase Romania’s exports of construction materials, fertilizers, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products to these countries. Romania’s trade with EAC countries totaled EUR 32 million in 2015, consisting in EUR 11.6 million exports and EUR 20.4 million imports. Source: Romania - insider.com

An urban planning policy for the East African Community (EAC) will create a network for the allocation of investment and for the production and sale of most goods and services once adopted, a regional parliamentarian said. MP Nancy Abisai earlier this month urged the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to adopt a motion in support of an urban planning policy for the bloc, with view to empower the urban poor. Shortly before the motion was adopted, the Kenyan lawmaker told the Assembly that poor urban governance and inappropriate policy frameworks contribute to the vulnerability of the urban poor. Corruption, inappropriate policies, and cumbersome regulatory requirements in EAC cities, she said, lead to deprivations such as inadequate infrastructure and environmental services, limited access to school and health care and social exclusion. “Better urban governance is, therefore, a necessary condition for empowering the urban poor and improving their opportunities and security,” Abisai said. “Urban planning will reduce social inequality. Social and economic inequalities are apparent in urban areas and are growing in all the cities in the EAC partner states and can lead to social and political clashes.” Augustin Rwomushana, Director of Urban Economic Development in the City of Kigali, told The New Times last week that EALA’s resolution is a catalyst for increasing urban network of regional cities, towns, and villages encompassing all aspects of the environment within which societies’ economic and social interactions take place. Rwomushana added: “Nationally, the resolution will create a network for the allocation of investment and...

AR: How would you describe the civil and infrastructure markets in Africa? There is a clear consensus that infrastructure development currently is a focus area across the entire African continent, including the markets that we serve in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone; this is emphasised by the number of currently ongoing road, rail and port projects in these markets. The medium term macro-economic challenges include pressure on government revenues, elections, currency volatility and slow decision making by foreign investors and donors. In the short-term we have identified excellent prospects in East Africa. In Kenya, the focus has shifted to road projects now that the Standard Gauge Railway project is well underway; the Tanzanian and Ugandan governments are settling down after their recent respective elections and have announced a number of mega projects that will attract great interest and investment. In West Africa we have actually seen a decline and this may continue through 2016. Nigeria, although it has recently announced its budget and intent to pay contractors, will depend upon the timing and ultimate solution surrounding foreign exchange restrictions, which have negatively impacted the economy. Ghana will also be negatively impacted due to continued low oil and commodity prices and output, as well as the upcoming election and adverse impacts of the “missing” Cocoa Board Funds (which fund much of the feeder road development). Panafrican remains bullish about the road infrastructure sector, which is why we sought out the addition of the world class Wirtgen range of...

NAIROBI (HAN) June 13.2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News. East African governments are determined to succeed in their global races to create growth and deliver lasting prosperity. They recognise that to build a strong economy necessary for a fairer society, they require infrastructure that competes with the best in the world. One only needs to look at the steady and substantial infrastructure spends over the years. The Kenyan 2016/2017) budget did not disappoint. Allocations of over $3.5 billion, representing over 15 per cent of the budgetary allocations, were channelled towards infrastructure and apportioned as follows, undoubtedly in order of priority; standard gauge railway (SGR) $1.55 billion, roads  $1.48 billion, energy $0.40 billion, Lapsset $100 million and ports $55 million. As expected, the majority of the Kenyan budget has been allocated to projects aimed at enhancing transport and logistics, in order to ease the cost of doing business in the country and bolster its competitive edge compared to its peers. It is projected that total traffic on the Northern corridor will double in 2016 from the 2013 levels of 21.5 million tonnes. The Tanzanian 2016/17 infrastructure budget also has a strong focus on developing its Central corridor; which undoubtedly will create strong competition for the Kenyan Northern corridor. Tanzania allocated $143 million to accelerate developments to renovate the Central railway line that runs from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika; and $9 million to the construction of the Mbegani port in Bagamoyo. The Ugandan government is likely to benefit...

The European Union and six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) finally signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on Friday (10 June) after more than a decade of talks – in a move that gives Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland duty-free access to the EU. For South Africa, the sixth country in the SADC, its products will see improved preferential treatment over and above what is already covered by the existing bilateral EU-South Africa Trade and Development Cooperation Agreement into the EU market. In particular, the agreement increases the flexibility of Southern African producers to put together products from components from various countries, without the risk of losing their free access to the EU market. The EPA is a development-oriented free trade agreement that takes into account the different levels of development of each partner nation. It is the  the first of its kind between the EU and an African region pursuing economic integration. The agreement was signed by EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström, who said: "We want to base our trade relations with our partners in the Southern African region on commonly agreed, stable rules. Trade has helped lift millions of people from poverty throughout the years. Thanks to agreements like this one, we are preparing the ground for that process to continue." By signing the EPA, all participants commit themselves to act towards sustainable development and to uphold social and environmental standards. The agreement also establishes a consultation procedure for environmental or labour issues and defines a comprehensive list of areas...