Trade policy must be carefully crafted to ensure trade helps to reduce poverty, concluded a joint WTO-World Bank forum on 26 May, with speakers explaining how sound policies can help farmers, women and workers benefit from trade. The forum focused on rural poverty and gender inequality, employment and poverty alleviation, data gathering, and the Aid for Trade initiative. “Lowering trade costs faced by developing countries and integrating them into the trading system is essential,” Anabel González of the World Bank Group said. “But we have learned that this process of integration has the greatest impact on poverty reduction when poor people have been connected to the benefits of trade, with their capacities to gain maximized, and their vulnerabilities addressed,” she said. The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement and Aid for Trade can help make it easier for small players in developing countries to participate in the international trading system, said Bridget Chilala, Director of the WTO's Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation. There remains room, however, to explore more ways to ensure trade eradicates poverty, she said. Rural poverty In the agriculture sector, several speakers called on policymakers to refrain from protectionist strategies as the trade distortions can hurt the rural poor, particularly in developing countries. “One thing that is really important to keep in mind when considering the role of trade policy in agriculture is that most developing countries' agricultural trade is now with other developing countries,” said Will Martin, the President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. “Very...

Business leaders meeting today (30 May 2016) at the WTO headquarters outlined how the organization could address the current needs of the business community. In addition to the current negotiating agenda, they urged the WTO to look at a wide range of issues such as electronic commerce, rules to better facilitate services and investment flows, support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, action to provide trade finance, and many others. The Trade Dialogues event brought together over 60 business leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in conducting trade operations and to discuss how the WTO can help in dealing with them. The attendees were from small and large enterprises, from developed and developing countries, and from a variety of sectors. The event was held at the request of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 group of leading independent business associations from G20 economies, and facilitated by the WTO. The businesses that participated in the event are listed below. This high-level event for the business community is the first of its kind to be held at the WTO. It is part of a series of ‘Trade dialogues’ that will provide a range of stakeholders with the possibility to discuss their concerns on trade-related matters. Participants were welcomed by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. This opening session was followed by break-out sessions where participants engaged in a focused dialogue in small groups. These sessions were chaired by four ’discussion leaders’: Sunil Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti...

Over 4000 clearing and forwarding agents have received training in clearing and forwarding to match with the growing trade in the East African Community. The training is part of the  $2.1m program funded by Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) and implemented by the East Africa regional freight forwarding Association  (FEAFFA) in conjunction with the East Africa Revenue Authorities (EARA). TMA's chief executive officer, Frank Matsaert said the training program was aimed at addressing the skills gap among freight forwarders and clearing agents in the region. He explained that the training was based on a survey by TMA that found out that freight forwarders and clearing agents lacked the necessary skills and capacity in clearing cargo at the border points resulting into delays, increase in cargo clearance costs and cargo release times. "The training could save companies up to 385 dollars in savings as the same amount of money could have been spent in fines by companies whose agents commit errors in the process of clearing," said Matsaert. He added that through training key people in freight forwarding businesses, there will be increased trade transactions. "Where you see trade grow you see prosperity take root. By training the key people in the freight forwarding business, we are helping move goods quicker, save time and money and help the region develop" added Matseart. According to him, the efficient flow of international trade relies on a range of skilled service providers working together, clearing and forwarding agents. Since 2011, 90 per cent of...

(www.abndigital.com) The African Development Bank's annual meetings kicked off in Arusha this week, with a host of activities, including the launching of the 2012 African Economic Outlook. This is to be followed by the inauguration of another report about private sector development in the continent. ABN's Godfrey Mutizwa spoke to Uledi Mussa, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the EAC Ministry and Nkosana Moyo, Executive Chairman of Mining at the Mandela Institute of Studies. Source: CNBC Africa

East African countries have been advised to formulate a legislation through which Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the region can be regulated and monitored.The legislation should make sure that a region doesn't receive FDIs from a country or investment hub where EAC has a direct market. The moment FDI's are allowed from such areas, countries that are trading directly with EAC will benefit even more by taking advantage of the existing trade relations to abuse ways through which investments come into the country. The call was made by the Chairperson and member of the Committee of Trade investments and Communication in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Mukasa Mbidde. He was on Friday officiating at a closure of a two day regional meeting on Making Investments Work for the People, organized by the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI),at Lake Victoria Hotel, Entebbe. The meeting was aimed at enhancing stakeholders' awareness and capacity to understand and appreciate the importance of investment policies and practices that are gender sensitive; protect human rights; protect the environment and address development needs of the EAC region. Mbidde explained that countries where FDIs are coming from are facing challenges like the lack of land for investments, for some, trading quotas have been closed and are now looking out for areas with enough land which they can get for free despite the fact that such land should carry a price. Therefore when they come to EAC countries like Uganda, instead of Uganda...

Days after the Rwandese government ditched the Kenya standard gauge railway line for the Tanzanian one, the billion-dollar infrastructure project has run into even more headwinds. This is after veteran train roof riders warned that the SGR speeds will be too high and dangerous for them. They have thus threatened to go to court. The riders whose umbrella lobby body is the Roof Riders Association had initially wanted to call themselves Rough Riders but found the name had already been taken. “Riding on the roof of a passenger train that’s moving at 120 kilometres per hour is like a death wish. It’s like they want to cut short my journey in this world,” said one Dandora resident who has been commuting for free since the 1990s. Consequently the roof riders argue that the government should either provide them with wind protection shields or reduce the speeds so that they can ride on the train roofs safely and comfortably. The riders said they have done this for years and to suddenly bring in trains that have such high speeds would negatively affect their way of life. “Alternatively if the government can’t build wind protection shields on the roofs of the SGR trains, the National Transport and Safety Authority should step in and enforce a speed limit,” said the secretary general of the Roof Riders Association. The roof riders lobby group already has an ideal speed they are proposing. “We would be comfortable with anything below 20 kilometres per hour... our lives...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- East African apex business body has complained again over the high level of non tariff barriers that exist during cross border trade.The newly elected East African Business Council (EABC) Chairman Econie Nijimbere said in Nairobi that non tariff barriers add to their transaction costs. "The business community continues to face non-tariff barriers which contribute to the low level of intra-regional trade," Nijimbere said during the EABC 17th Annual General Meeting. During the meeting Nijimbere was elected to replace Dennis Karera who was the previous chairman. The EAC signed the Custom Union protocol in 2005 and a Common Market Protocol in 2010. The Customs union brought about a three band structure for the Common External Tariff for raw materials, intermediate goods and finished goods. Nijimbere said that there are critical gaps and a disparity in the implementation of the two protocols which is in turn creates obstacles for business persons across the region. He said that lack of harmonized standards for goods and services is also hampering trade. EABC Acting Executive Director Lillian Awinja said that the trading bloc has a limited number of harmonized regional standards. "This is a form of non tariff barrier because it leads to expensive and time-consuming re-testing processes at the border points," Awinja said. She said that harmonization of standards should be fast tracked for the 20 most traded goods across the EAC. She noted that currently some products have several standards. Typically, the EAC committee on standards approves a standard for...

Work has begun for the expansion of the road linking Changamwe to the busy Moi international airport in Mombasa…the 6 billion shillings project is seen as the key to unlock traffic snarl ups that have characterized the stretch Source: Standard Media

Refined fuel exports from Kenya to Uganda and northern Tanzania and other parts of the region are expected to rise with the completion of a new pipeline. A 10-inch pipeline valued a $57 million, has been designed to deliver higher volumes of fuel to the Kenya Pipeline Company’s Kisumu depot on the shores of Lake Victoria. China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB) built the pipeline to increase oil products supply in western Kenya for local use, and to export oil to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, northern Tanzania, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Building of 122km pipeline started in mid 2014 and was completed in 14 months parallel to the existing 6-inch pipe from Sinendet in Nakuru to Kisumu. A study done by a Chinese firm, Shengli Engineering and Consulting Company Ltd, shows that petroleum products demand in western Kenya is approximately 1.2 billion litres and the export market needs about 2.3 billion litres per annum. The Kisumu depot has in the past experienced shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene and jet A-1 fuel. It receives fuel from Mombasa port through Nairobi, Nakuru and Sinendet pump station. The pipeline system currently consists of 450km of line1 from Mombasa to Nairobi, 325km each of line 2 and line 4 from Nairobi to Eldoret and 122 km each of line 3 and line 6 from Sinendet to Kisumu. KPC expects the new pipeline to lead to offtake of petrol from Kisumu depot increasing to 2 million litres daily with 60 per cent destined...

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - The second round of Challenge Fund support for innovators and entrepreneurs working in the logistics and transport sector was launched recently with a financing mechanism in the range of $16m. The Logistics Innovation for Trade (LIFT) Challenge Fund, which is a $16 million (Tsh.35.2 billion) grant-based financial mechanism, supports innovators with good ideas for products or services that can reduce the costs of transport and logistics in East Africa. According to TradeMark Africa (TMA) which is a non-profit organization, LIFT will provide grants ranging from $ 150,000 to $ 1,000,000 (Tsh.330 million to Tsh.2.2billion respectively) to winning proposals from innovators from across the world whose project ideas will be implemented in the East African Community (EAC). East Africa is reported to have the highest freight and transport costs in the world. It is said that the freight costs are over 50% higher than those of the United States and Europe per kilometre. Successful LIFT projects will contribute to TMA’s objective of reducing transport time along the main East Africa transport corridors by 15% by the end of 2016. Dr. Josephat Kweka, Country Director Tanzania, TMA said it was their hope that the entrepreneurs and innovators of the EAC in partnership with their counterparts internationally will drive forward development through the adoption or introduction of ‘best practice’ technologies in the transport and logistics sector, enabling local businesses to compete favorably in the increasingly global economy. “LIFT is a valuable financial instrument that supports private sector ‘can-do’...