The Republic of Uganda has officially taken over from the United Republic of Tanzania as the new Chairperson of East African Community. The Republic of Rwanda became the new rapporteur during the 35th Meeting of EAC Council of Ministers which concluded yesterday at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The tenure of office of the Chairperson of the EAC is one year and it is held on rotational basis among the Partner States as per Article 12 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC. Speaking after taking over, the new Chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers, Hon. Dr Ali Kirunda Kivenjija, Uganda's Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Affairs, said that the Council of Ministers meeting came at a time when there was growing demand by the East African citizens to see, touch and feel the tangible benefits of the regional integration especially following the launch of the Customs Union in 2005, the Common Market in 2010, and the Monetary Union in 2013. "At this critical period, the Council’s contribution towards the regional integration process therefore cannot be overemphasized," Hon. Kivenjija. He urged EAC Partner States to enhance the visibility of the tangible benefits of the integration by implementing fully the Customs Union and Common Market protocols. Hon. Kivejinja said that since the operationalization of the Customs Union and Common Market protocols, Partner States have not fully allowed the citizens to enjoy the anticipated benefits. "Our people are still experiencing non-tariff barriers, harmonization of national laws to conform...

Arusha — Presidents of the six countries making up the East African Community who were to gather here for the 18th EAC Ordinary Heads of State Summit Meeting, have postponed their schedule. The Head of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs at East African Community Secretariat, Mr Richard Owora Othieno, said the EAC Heads of State Summit which was to be held in Arusha on the 6th of April, 2017 under the Chairmanship of President John Magufuli, will now be convened at a later date. "The 6th of April is a special day for Burundi and therefore the Chairman of the Heads of State Summit agreed to push forward the meeting to a later date," said Mr Othieno. Heads of State who were to meet in Arusha under the Summit Chair, John Magufuli, include President Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) and for the first time, Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan which is the newest member State in the EAC fold. Source: All Africa

Ratification of a 2013 protocol meant to promote peace, security, stability and good inter-nation relations within the East African Community (EAC) should be taken as a matter of urgency, regional lawmakers have said. The EAC Peace and Security Protocol, ,signed by five partner states in February 2013  (before entry of South Sudan)  following more than four years of negotiations has only been ratified by Rwanda and Uganda. In separate interviews, last week, the lawmakers said it is incumbent upon the partner states that have not ratified to do so “as a matter of urgency.” “We need to have a legal framework and some peace and security architecture implemented in the region to be able to engage on matters of peace and security,” said MP Mike Sebalu (Uganda), a member of the Committee on Regional Affairs and Conflict Resolution in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). “The most difficult and most challenging aspect is negotiation. When you have negotiated and reached an agreement on how you want such instruments to be and provided a regulatory framework, the ratification is the timely end of the process. It should be the easiest thing to do because the details are considered at the stage of negotiation.” Sebalu said it “gives me a bit of trouble” to see that partner states negotiate instruments but develop jelly knees when it comes to ratifying them. “There has always been a constant recommendation imploring partner states to append their signatures and ratify. We have always been given assurances...

Speaking soon after launching the train over the weekend in Dar es Salaam, Acting TRL Executive Director Shaban Kiko said that for first time TRL was providing 20 wagons at a time from Dar es Salaam to Burundi. He said initially TRL used to transport two to three cargo wagons from Dar es Salaam port to Burundi. “The block train services are launched for business and private companies that can transport up 20 cargo wagons,” he said. According to the TRL official, the 20 block train launched contained iron coils, the property of UBUCOM of Burundi, and will take three days up to Kigoma and one more day to Burundi. He clarified that TRL had reduced transportation cost for lose cargo and that protected in the special containers. He said lose cargo was charged at USD 3,056 per wagon and USD 3024 for fully covered wagons from Dar es Salaam to Burundi compared to the cost of transporting them by road. Two years ago, former president Jakaya Kikwete and his Burundian counterpart Pierre Nkurunziza launched the beginning of three freight wagon train routes to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Burundi, at the Tanzania Railway Limited (TRL) central station in Dar es Salaam. Source: IPP Media

The inaugural Manufacturing East Africaconference will be hosted in Nairobi, Kenyafrom the 19 – 20 April 2017 and has been developed to explore and address the growing need for intra-Africa trade across the continent.  The event will comprise a 1 day conference, manufacturing competitiveness workshop and allocated business networking time. There is increased interest from South African manufacturers to explore new markets to sell products and services and with the rapidly growing East African market, this provides an opportunity to establish new business partnerships, trade relationships, the opportunity to explore investment into the regional SEZs and a platform to engage and meet with key East African stakeholders.  The event is partnered with the South African Department of Trade and Industry, the Manufacturing Circle, Kenya Manufacturers Association, Trade Invest Africa, CAIA as well as our private sector partner, Deloitte Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. "Many local companies have registered to attend and we look forward to hosting a successful inaugural event aimed at paving the way for manufacturing growth and intra-Africa trade.  This further supports the growth strategy of the annual Manufacturing Indaba hosted in South Africa to aid companies to find emerging markets to enable growth.’  commented Liz Hart, Managing Director of the Manufacturing Indaba portfolio of events. Source: Engineering News

After Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda commissioned the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS), Tanzania is also being engaged to join the system so as to further boost trade along the Kigali-Dar es Salaam route, officials confirm. In Rwanda, establishment of the e-Cargo tracking system meant to reduce the cost of doing business by reducing transit time, enhancing cargo safety and helping traders better predict arrival of goods, was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through Trademark East Africa (TMA) at a cost of $4.5 million (nearly Rwf3.7 billion). Patience Mutesi, TMA country director, says an engagement started with Tanzanian authorities to extend the system there as well. “Since 80% of Rwanda’s exports and imports are routed through the Dar port, it is important for Rwandan traders that Tanzania gets on board the RECTS for cost and time gains which would come as a result of cargo safety and increased truck productivity along the Kigali-Dar route,” Mutesi said. The system now connects Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda enabling them to jointly track transit cargo from port to destination on a 24-hour basis. François Kanimba, the Minister for Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs, is optimistic that even though procuring the system is costly, TMA “accepted to support Tanzania as has been done in other countries”. The only problem would be, he observed, the fact that procuring the system takes time. Kanimba said: “As regards implementation, in Tanzania, there will be no problem. It is already a member of...

New measures to protect local industries and farmers from cheap imports will be known in June once the East African Community partner states agree on taxation rates. The region’s finance ministers will meet next month meet to agree on a new Common External Tariff (CET) on products like sugar, maize, wheat and rice, as well as customs-related taxation measures designed to protect local industries from cheap imports and unfair competition. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury Henry Rotich said taxation measures that will be agreed on by the EAC ministers for finance will be communicated through the EAC Gazette Notice and implemented from July 1. “On matters relating to Customs, we have evaluated various proposals from stakeholders for consideration by the EAC ministers for finance during the pre-budget consultations meeting to be held in May this year,” Mr Rotich told lawmakers in Nairobi while presenting the country’s 2017/2018 budget. The current CET is based on three bands of 25 per cent for finished goods, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and zero per cent for raw materials and capital goods, with a limited number of products under the sensitive list, which attract rates above the maximum rate of 25 per cent. The three-band tariff has been blamed for killing competitiveness of local companies and obstructing intra-regional trade by forcing them to pay duty at the rate of 25 per cent on some imported inputs, which should have ordinarily attracted zero per cent or 10 per cent duty. The EAC CET was last reviewed in 2010 but the...

Au travers de cet accord, TMA, une institution de facilitation du commerce, reproduira et consolidera son succès à contribuer dans la facilitation du commerce transfrontalier, et plus encore dans le cas présent, à investir dans des ressources déjà disponibles comme le transport lacustre et à faciliter l'adoption des technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) le long de la région Est de la RDC. Le Gouvernement des Pays-Bas a pris un engagement de 6,7 millions de dollars pour lancer des projets y relatifs. Les projets comprendront: le dragage et la réhabilitation du port de Kalundu sur le lac Tanganyika, le soutien au commerce transfrontalier, qui impliquera le renforcement des capacités ainsi que la mise en œuvre de systèmes intégrés de gestion des frontières aux postes frontaliers de Rusizi entre le Rwanda et la ville de Bukavu; la réhabilitation des ports de Kasenyi (coté RDC) et Ntoroko (coté Ouganda) et enfin les travaux d'infrastructure au poste frontalier de Goli (coté Ouganda) - Mahagi (coté RDC). L'engagement de TMA auprès de la RDC permettra de consolider les avantages résultant d'une intervention similaire qu'elle a facilitée en Afrique de l'Est, surtout au niveau des routes principales de transport de la région, notamment le Corridor Nord allant de Mombasa et reliant l'Ouganda, le Rwanda, la RDC et le Sud Soudan ; ainsi que le Corridor Central, reliant le port de Dar es Salaam au Rwanda, au Burundi et à l'Est de la RDC par transport routier et lacustre. Lors d'une visite à la...

Arusha. Nearly seven years after the coming into force of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market Protocol, the issue of free movement of labour is still contentious. Concerted advocacy by lobby groups such as the East African Employers Organisation (EAEO), the East African Trade Unions Confederation (EATUC) and others do not appear to have yielded much results. However, Tanzania, which has been viewed as being largely against the free movement of workers in its attempt to protect its national labour force, has reduced its residence permit fees by 50 per cent. For Ms Rosemary Ssenabulya, EAEO chairperson, this was “a great achievement” in the EAC integration process considering that it was the most contentious issues the organisation has been advocating for in the last two years. It was in 2015 when the employers’ body presented a joint petition with EATUC to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) on removing barriers to free movement of workers. “However, we still need to do more lobbying in this area until the fees are harmonised to zero the way other partner states of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have done,” she said during an annual general meeting of EAEO held in Arusha last week. Towards the end of last year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta asked Tanzania and Burundi to waive work permit charges in the spirit of EAC of allowing free movement of people and goods. He said the dream of a borderless East Africa would be realised if all partner states honoured an...

Vinod Madhavan, head of transactional products and services for Africa at Standard Bank, said the continent is expected continue as the second fastest growing region in the world over the next four years returning growth rates between four and five percent. He said intra Africa trade reduced due to low commodity prices last year, and trade within the continent would create more jobs. Madhavan said, “Africa could increase its intra- Africa trade three fold and still not match Asia’s level of internal trade. In Asia, trade and exports have been central to the region’s exponential growth, lifestyle improvements and stability of the last 30 years.” “As commodities rebound, 2017 is expected to set new records in the volume and value of African trade however, the point is not to get side-tracked by some of the current headwinds,” he added. He said Africa should learn from Asia, increase trade volumes in the continent for maximum benefits. Global and cross-border trade is the fastest contributor to growth, and it supports domestic trade, small and medium enterprise formation and job creation. Madhavan said this has been seen in emerging markets over the last 30 years. He however cautioned that Africa should address the current challenges like legislators not adopting the most efficient policies and political risks. Madhavan said there has been debt default in Mozambique and local currencies are losing value, U.S. dollar and other hard currencies remains scarce within key economies. He also mentioned, there have been over 10 bank defaults in...