NYERERE BRIDGE: According to the organizers, an efficient transport infrastructure is critical in ensuring Africa truly benefits from its rich natural resources and the World Bank estimates that the cost of moving goods in Africa is, on average, two or three times higher than in developed countries. DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - The 7th East & Central Africa Roads and Rail Infrastructure Summit 2016 is expected to start on September 27  in Dar es Salaam.  Top on the agenda are discussions about the bottlenecks, challenges and the way forward since infrastructure is a key aspect for economic growth in the region. A statement availed to the East African Business Week from Magenta Global the organizers of the summit indicates that the summit will once again provide the authoritative platform that will synergize, strategize and reshape discussions to inspire new blueprints and dissect the critical issues hampering the successful execution of planned projects in the region. The statement added that following successful editions in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, the 7th East & Central Africa Roadsand  Rail Infrastructure Summit 2016 will now return to Dar es Salaam as its geographical area is more conveniently. Statement said the summit will featuring dedicated country sessions plus insightful presentations by industry experts, that event will once again provide the a useful platform to government policy makers, politicians, contractors and engineers in the region. According to the organizers an efficient transport infrastructure is critical in ensuring Africa truly benefits from its rich natural resources and the...

Photo taken on Sept. 1, 2016 shows a construction site of the Standard gauge railway (SGR) project, in Mombasa, Kenya. The 480-kilometer SGR line in Kenya, being built by Chinese firm, will run from Mombasa on the eastern coast to the capital Nairobi. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) NAIROBI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road initiative being championed by China will unleash global prosperity through increased cross border trade, cultural interactions and skills transfer, a Kenyan scribe said on Friday. Charles Kerich, an editor with a local daily, The Star Newspaper, said in a commentary that China's Belt and Road initiative will have profound impact on economies and livelihoods across a large swathe of Africa, Middle East, Europe and Asia. Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 launched the initiative to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Kerich, who recently visited China, hailed China's move to revive the ancient trade routes that underpinned global prosperity in the middle ages. A laborer works at the Mombasa port station of the Standard gauge railway (SGR) project, in Mombasa, Kenya, on Aug. 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) The China-funded standard gauge railway (SGR) in Kenya and its future stretches in other East African nations are part of the Belt and Road initiative, he said. China-funded mega infrastructure projects like the SGR, sea ports and highways will catalyze industrial transformation in Kenya and the larger Eastern African region, he said. China has as of June this...

Trade Ps Chris Kiptoo with Ps trade Adok Mkenda during EAC UNCTAD trade talk in Nairobi on July 22. PHOTO/ENOS TECHE. Parliament is today expected to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union to help shield the country from heavy taxes on exports to the EU from October 1. Two special seatings are expected to be held in the national assembly chamber at 9.30am and 2.30 pm. Top of the agenda is the consideration of the proposal to ratify the EPA between Kenya/EAC and the European Union, which will help to convince the EU not to impose taxes on Kenya’s exports from next month. Ratification of the EPA, is Kenya's way of showing its commitment to the agreement, Industry, Trade and Cooperatives PS Chris Kiptoo said yesterday. “Kenya is doing its part as required by the agreement,” Kiptoo told the Star. A memorandum to the national assembly from the Trade ministry, seen by the Star has urged parliament to fasttrack ratification of the agreement. This will allow Kenya to notify the EU Council before September 30, the deadline that Kenya needs to meet to avoid trade disruption in the EU market. “Given the fast-approaching deadline of October 1, 2016 the parliament needs to ratify the EPA by September 20, 2016…This is the only option that Kenya has in order to save over Sh125billion EU export market, which has potential to be lost overnight if the ratification is not notified to the EU by 30thSeptember 2016,” the memorandum reads...

By Dorothy Nakaweesi Kampala — The East African Community (EAC) member countries' decision to extend the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union may have consequences in the due course, the EU has said. The EU head of delegation to Uganda, Ambassador Kristian Schmidt, in a statement issued to this newspaper last week, said: "There are no immediate effects but there may be consequences in due course that only the EPA can prevent." EAC heads of State during their 17th Summit that sat in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania recently agreed to push the signing of the EPAs with the EU for another three-months (January 2017) until a harmonised regional position has been arrived at. Tanzania's President John Magufuli, the chairman of the EAC summit, said they need more time to discuss the EPA agreement. So far, Kenya and Rwanda have already signed the agreement. Uganda has also expressed strong interest to sign while Tanzania and Burundi are still skeptical. But the EAC heads of State during the negotiations expressed a willingness to move ahead as a region. Mr Schmidt said the EU understands that the EAC partners need some time to continue their internal process. "This is why we pursue a situation in which the EAC EPA is implemented by all EAC countries as a bloc, in order to provide a predictable and uniform trade scheme for all EAC members that respects their customs union and preserves duty-free quota-free access to the EU market for all of them,...

EXPERTS in diplomacy have described a move by three heads of state of the East African Community (EAC) to give relief aid to victims of Kagera earthquake as signal towards more cooperation and brilliant future in the bloc. Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Paul Kagame of Rwanda handed over their contributions to President John Magufuli on Saturday. Mr Museveni contributed a total of 200,000 US dollars (437m/-) and Mr Kenyatta provided a relief items including roofing sheets, blankets and mattresses worth 115m/-. The tremor, which occurred on September 10 and measuring at a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale, killed 17 and left 440 others injured. The quake also destroyed 2,063 houses while 14,081 others were damaged. In separate interviews with the ‘Daily News’ yesterday, the experts on diplomatic issues and a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) called for continued such spirit among the members of the EAC of helping each other during hard times. They argued that the situation showed the real meaning of the Community. A Lecturer at the Centre for Foreign Relations (CFR), Dr Kitojo Wetengere, noted that being in the community means that the members need to support each other economically and socially. “When one member country faces trouble, others should provide help. For these presidents to support Tanzania, it means that we are together during good and hard times. They have proved that our pain is theirs,” Dr Wetengere remarked. He said it was healthy for...

The eight regional trade blocs under the African Union (AU) will start negotiations in December this year that will see creation of a Continental Free Trade Area. Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) Head of Infrastructure Department Christian Appiah said all is set for the talks which will focus on dealing with opening of boundaries by dealing with tariff and non-tariff barriers. He says on their part, ECOWAS is ready to trade with the East African Community since both blocs are strongly established. “We have had several consultations with other regional blocs and at the African Union level, they recognize the regional economic communities that we have. At the moment each of these regional bloc is developing a strategy on how this continental collaboration is going to work,” Appiah told journalist at the Trade Mark East Africa offices in Nairobi on Friday. Apart from EAC and ECOWAS, other African regional blocs under the AU include, Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Others are the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). The creation of a pan-African trade pact have been the centre of discussion for several AU summits with questions raising on how to actually implement free trade area considering the various tough policies among different member countries. However according to Appiah, there is no need to postpone as everything must start...

KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – THE fourth Agribusiness Congress East Africa conference set for the capital Kampala in November builds on the great excitement in the agricultural sector in Uganda. It is the first time that the event is taking place in Uganda. The summit comes at a time the farming sector is showing great potential. The Grain Council of Uganda (TGCU)’s Board Vice Chairman, Robert Mwanje, says the body is delighted to partner, support and host the fourth annual Agribusiness Congress East Africa. The success of the event in the East African region has given the TGCU the confidence to host the upcoming edition, setting it as a key entrant into the national annual calendar. “The Congress strives to set progressive action for the commercialisation of the industry by exchanging knowledge, best practices and dynamic conversations whilst showcasing leading agri technology to highlight the right tools for East Africa’s agri sector,” says Mwanje. Agribusiness Congress East Africa is a regional platform for discussions and knowledge sharing, to address those pertinent issues which are preventing the East African agricultural industry from flourishing as a global agribusiness hub. Industry organisations that are official partners include the East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, National Agricultural Research Organisation, Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda National Farmers Federation, Uganda Seed Trade Association and Agricona. Well-known suppliers Engsol, Mascor, John Deere and Chief Industries have already signed up as event sponsors. Event director, Yolanda dos Santos, expresses excitement ahead of the event. “We look forward to...

IN SUMMARY Officials from the Ecowas Commission visited East Africa to learn how to run successful trade and transport programmes to reduce trade costs and barriers through a single window system and the use of border posts. Trade and Customs officials in West Africa are seeking ways to improve the management of their borders. Officials from the Ecowas Commission from Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo and staff from trade, Customs and infrastructure departments participated in a five-day study tour from East Africa, from September 12 to 16. The visit was organised by the Accelerating Trade in West Africa project in collaboration with TradeMark Africa. The delegates visited East Africa to learn how to run successful trade and transport programmes to reduce trade costs and barriers through a single window system and the use of border posts. A statement from TradeMark Africa said that the officials wanted to better understand Customs clearance processes, electronic cargo tracking and monitoring, and monitoring of non-trade barriers both nationally and regionally. Delegates called on EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko to discuss areas of collaboration at the regional level. They also paid a courtesy call on Amelia Kyambadde, Uganda’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives, who explained about the establishment of a non-tariff barrier monitoring system. The Uganda Revenue Authority shared information on trade facilitation measures such as electronic cargo tracking and the national single window systems. One Stop Border Post At the Busia Border, the delegates saw the design and operations of the One-Stop Border...

RE: “Why EAC needs a regional currency” (The New Times, September 13). Look at the straitjacket that is the euro for the mostly southernmost (with Ireland as the exception) member states of the EU (the so-called PIIGS - i.e. Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and be extremely wary of single currency systems involving countries at different levels of economic development, and which deprive the individual members of their ability to use currency valuation as an instrument of monetary and economic policy adjustment. Until our economies are better aligned, we must device alternatives to a single currency to reduce transaction costs of having to use the dollar intra-EAC trade. Mwene Kalinda ********************* The East African Community (EAC) does not need a common currency like the euro at this time. This would require multiple financial and economical adjustments which we are not ready for now. What is needed is a stable and sustainable means of payment across multiple borders. A common currency for EAC does not need to be a real currency at all — as long as it can facilitate transaction and reconciliation of accounts. A very good model for this payment mechanism is the special drawing rights (SDR) as used by the IMF. We could do something similar but tied to the relative value of the national currencies of the EAC partner states. The exchange rate could be revised weekly if necessary. In my opinion, this solution bypasses outside influence on our internal commerce and is sustainable. It does...

PARTICIPANTS to the East Africa workshop on the development of national and regional regulations and standards on lead and paint have called for the harmonisation of rules and regulations of the lead paint in the region so that they reach one gram in one kilogramme. Reading the workshop recommendations, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Senior Programme Officer, Eisaku Toda, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that participants also agreed on the need to amend the lead paint limit in the East African Community (EAC) paint standards. “Participants acknowledged the leadership of EAC and the importance of harmonisation of the 90 ppm total lead limit for paint throughout the region in support of the continental free trade area,” he said. Tanzania and Kenya national efforts were recognised during the meeting by being amongst the first to establish the lead limit for paints in all paints produced, sold, used and imported. Moreover, he said, Tanzania agreed to develop a justification to amend the EAC lead paint standards by October, this year, while Kenya offered to explore hosting a regional harmonisation meeting to a draft amended EAC standards for lead in paints, next steps and timeline for finalisation. Mr Toda said they also called for the need to come up with challenges on the implementation of the lead limit in paint but called on the importance of raising awareness among the public on the health and mental effects caused by the cumulative toxic in lead. On her part, World Health Organisation (WHO) scientist,...