As a way of further deepening the East African integration, Uganda is launching a National Policy to engage all segments of our population to ensure optimum benefi ts that continue to accrue from this process. The National Policy on East African Community Integration (NPEACI) was developed to respond to the need to have a detailed articulation of the country’s EAC integration policy in a single document, in which priorities, objectives, targets, policies and linkages with other growth and development targets are clearly laid out and linked. The development and launch of this policy is also borne out of the obvious fact that integration is too important to be left to a few sections of the population. Integration is a multifaceted process bringing together all of us in government and the non-state actors. Indeed, the framers of the Treaty establishing the EAC were mindful of this reality. That is why Article 7 provides that “the principles that shall govern the practical achievement of the objectives of the community shall include people-centred and market-driven co operation”. By launching this policy, therefore, we are, in a way, fulfi lling the requirements of this provision. The document with the vision, “A transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country fully integrated within the East African Community”, will be launched by the Rt Hon Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda. The ceremony will be attended by people in all walks of life from the public and private sector and the civil society....

While the last 15 years have seen relatively high levels of growth driven by a commodity super-cycle and strong internal demand from a growing middleclass, Africa is still dependent on commodities for most of its export earnings. There is now broad consensus that, without diversified economies, Africa will remain prone to exogenous shocks and trapped in the paradox of high growth rates, coexisting with high levels of unemployment and extreme poverty. It is for this reason that the last four issues of the Economic Report for Africa have investigated the fundamental policy questions and challenges facing the transformation process and endeavoured to shed light on, and bring coherence to, policy priorities at national, regional and continental levels. I continue to call for accelerated industrialization as key to the structural transformation of African economies. The deep focus on industrialization in Africademonstratesour commitment to ensure that policy research and statistics are strategically relevant to African governments’ priorities. The new industrial policies being developed by several member States and regional economic communities have greatly benefited from the research, statistics and debates generated by our focus on this critical subject. The key factors constraining trade and industrialization in Africa are related to Africa’s narrow production and export base, which is dominated by low-value products such as raw materials and primary commodities. This is compounded by very high trade costs, tariffs and non-tariff barriers to intra-African trade and Africa’s access to international markets. We have no alternative but to increase our share of global exports....

Even though agriculture remains the main economic activity in the East African Community (EAC) partner states, public spending on the sector remain very low as reflected in the 2014/2015 individual national budgets published by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. This is despite the sector contributing about 30 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing about 80 percent of the total work force of these countries. The revelation is documented in a report deduced from the EAC partner states budgetary review for 2014/2015 fiscal year conducted recently by the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). EAFF is an apex regional farmer organisation with member in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan, representing more than 20 million smallholder farmers. The report recommends that there is an urgent need by the EAC partner states to review their budgetary allocations to the sector to ensure that the source of livelihood is safeguarded and improved. Governments of the EAC partner states should implement the 10 percent budget allocation for agriculture according to the Maputo Declaration. A detailed comparison of the agricultural sector allocation in the EAC following the Maputo Declaration in 2003 reveals that none of the EAC states has consistently met the 10 percent target pledged by the heads of States. The report highlights the major challenges faced by small scale farmers, how farmers can take advantage of the budget making process going forward, budgetary allocations to agriculture and recommendations. In this regard, the report analyses agriculture...

East African Community trade agencies yesterday participated in the formulation process of a $5 million (Sh460 million) integrated ICT data system aimed at enhancing information exchange. The concept promoted by TradeMark focuses on setting up an enabling ICT infrastructure to support EAC imports and exports become more competitive and affordable through reducing costs related to information sharing. Problems over the years resulting from inaccurate or conflicting information from multiple stakeholders has created poor visibility and predictability of the trade environment in relation with government agencies, sometimes leading to calls for legal litigation. “The Trade Logistics Information Pipeline would create an interconnectivity technology highway for EAC business and government agencies’ systems to communicate in a transparent and secured manner amongst themselves and with their international counterparts,” said TradeMark Africa chief executive Frank Matsaert at a stakeholders forum in Nairobi yesterday. The meeting brought together agencies from the EAC, representatives from the EAC secretariat and the EU. Instead of receiving of information in the form of documents from sources, users will pull the information they need to complete the transaction from integrated communication systems, consequently creating more independence and transparency on how the information is used to complete transactions. “The project is a welcome concept in the region and we hope it will help us in assuring our investors of a transparent operation in business as we continue to facilitate ways to lower costs in the regional market and decongestion of ports,” said EAC Customs director Kenneth Bagamuhunda. “This has so far...

Three Partner States of the East African Community (EAC) namely; Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects initiative, have waived visa fees for foreign residents living within the 3 countries in order to allow them easier access to the region’s diverse offering. The waiver agreement is part of the Joint Communique that Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda signed at the just concluded 8th Northern Corridor Integration Summit held in Nairobi early this month. Known as the East Africa Tourist Visa (EATV), foreign residents no longer have to pay the $100 fee for the Visa that is valid for ninety days effective December 15th 2014. Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa said the single tourist visa will provide an amazing opportunity for residents staying in the three Partner States to explore the immense diversity of wildlife, landscapes, cultures, and heritage, among other renowned attractions either for weekend gateways, corporate retreats or annual family holidays. The Rwanda Development Board’s Head of Department for Tourism and Conservation Ambassador Yamina Karitanyi said in a statement that the waiver of the fee on the single East Africa Tourist Visa was the next step in consolidating and enriching the region’s tourism offering. “We are approaching the rest of the world as a unified and rich tourist destination with varied experiences for travellers. We are also positioning East Africa’s tourism assets collectively as part of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects,” said Ambassador Karitanyi...

African seaborne gas exports will play a bigger role in meeting global LNG trade growth than the United States, whose supply will be capped by mass domestic switching from coal to gas-fired power generation, the West's energy watchdog said on Wednesday. Africa's LNG exporters in Nigeria, Algeria and Equatorial Guinea are set for a new supply wave coming from major new discoveries off the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania, home to some of the biggest discoveries in a decade. By contrast, the United States will fall behind as abundant gas supply muscles coal out of the domestic energy mix, creating huge demand for cheaper gas-fired power generation, Laszlo Varro, head of gas and power at the International Energy Agency said at the Flame gas conference in Amsterdam. The scale of fuel switching facing the U.S. power generation sector outlined by Varro appears to be greater than previous estimates, which assumed coal might remain partly competitive as domestic gas prices edge higher. "Africa will play a bigger role supplying the global trade growth than the U.S.," Varro said. "Coal is in serious trouble in the United States, from (U.S. President Barack) Obama's administration climate policies to U.S. environmental regulations limiting emissions, we see a very large U.S. coal fleet being decommissioned in the next several years and almost no new coal plants being built," he added. Varro said replacing all existing coal-fired capacity would exceed current U.S. gas production and predicted robust growth in gas consumption over coming decades. Despite that,...

Ato Hailemariam Desalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Chairman of the COMESA AuthorityTHE Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said 385 out of 476 NTBs identified as most restrictive to trade in the region through an online reporting system have been resolved while seven were considered non-actionable. Currently, eight categories of NTBs have been identified as most restrictive to trade in the region. They include Government participation in trade and restrictive practices tolerated by governments; lengthy customs and administrative entry procedures; technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures. According to the statement, other barriers include specific limitations including quantitative restrictions, and quotas; charges on imports; transport, clearing and forwarding; and issues related to transit clearance; and other procedural restrictions. Customs and administrative entry procedures lead in the number of NTBs reported at 37 percent followed by transport, clearing and forwarding with 17 percent and other procedural problems with 15 percent, the statement added. The online system was developed within the context of a tripartite arrangement among three African trade blocs namely COMESA, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), for reporting, monitoring and eliminating NTBs. It is a systematic way of capturing, storing, monitoring and tracing progress towards elimination of NTBs among the tripartite countries. This dynamic online system provides a systematic and transparent process for identification and elimination of barriers to trade in the tripartite region. However, if the position of the World Trade Organisation's former Director-General, Pascal Lamy, that removing...

Nairobi — MORE than 2,000 containers that have overstayed at the Mombasa port are set to be auctioned after the storage-charge waiver given to importers expires Tuesday. On February 14, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) announced that the government would waive all charges accruing on the storage of containers discharged at the port before November 30, 2014, provided they were cleared within 60 days. "All such goods that will not have been removed from the port and Container Freight Stations (CFSs) upon expiry of the 60-day notice shall be sold by public auction without further reference to the owners," KRA said in the notice. The move was prompted by the high number of containers lying at the port, some of which have remained there for over 10 years, holding up space at the CFSs and port yards. But even as the waiver expires, the few number of containers cleared over the past 60 days has sparked controversy, with a section of industry players saying it was 'cosmetic' and was meant to open a window for illegal auctioning of the cargo. Bureaucracy Some importers said they were yet to clear their cargo due to bureaucracy and refusal by some CFSs and shipping lines to waive the charges. By yesterday, KRA could not state how many containers had so far been cleared during the waiver period, with Fatma Yusuf, the officer in charge of marketing and communication, saying they were still compiling data. While multiple sources at the port indicated that the...

(Reuters) - Global goods trade will grow by 3.3 percent this year and by 4.0 percent in 2016, less than previously forecast, mainly due to sluggish economic growth, the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday. "We expect trade to continue its slow recovery but with economic growth still fragile and continued geopolitical tensions, this trend could easily be undermined," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said. The WTO figures are based on economic growth estimates from organisations including the International Monetary Fund, which will update its forecasts later on Tuesday. WTO chief economist Robert Koopman said he had seen the new IMF figures and they would be "in the same ballpark" and not affect the WTO's forecast. Although the forecasts do suggest some modest growth in world goods trade, they follow repeated downward revisions of trade forecasts as the economic outlook worsened. Trade grew by 2.8 percent in 2014, far less than an original forecast of 4.7 percent and also below the revised forecast of 3.1 percent that the WTO predicted last September. The new expectation of 3.3 percent growth this year - already revised down twice, from 5.3 percent and then 4.0 percent, is a small acceleration but far below the long term trend. Growth averaged 2.4 percent over each of the last three years, compared with an annual average of 6.0 percent between 1990 and the global financial crisis that began in 2007-2008. "There has only been one other period since the Second World War in which trade growth has...

Countries that fail to comply with regional trade rules should be punished, a regional assembly member has said. Mr Bernard Mulengani said East African Community council of ministers should introduce a uniform policy across the bloc to slap sanctions on member states that breach trade regulations. Mr Mulengani, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly, was speaking during a debate on the region’s single customs territory report. “What we need as a region is quality products, lower costs of doing business and competitiveness to spur benefits to the citizens of the region,” Mr Mulengani said. Although there are rules and regulations toward the realisation of these objectives, he said, lack of awareness is impeding their implementation. He said citizens in the bloc should be made aware of the importance of integration. TRADING POTENTIAL “We need to remove the fears arising out of lack of awareness,” Mr Mulengani noted. Contributing to the debate, Mr Mike Sebalu said the business community should be told the benefits of the regional integration. Last year in May, regional judicial officers were trained on the EAC legal framework and their role in integration. The officers were also trained on how to effectively build capacity on their roles in EAC integration. The EAC secretariat in partnership with the German Development Cooperation’s arm GIZ also recently announced plans to hold a series of workshops to bridge gaps in cross-border trade. The training targeting small traders, young entrepreneurs and women traders, will focus on EAC policies, projects and...