The admission of South Sudan into the East African Community bloc is a boon for Kenyan businesses as they seek to widen their business horizons. The bloc’s market size has now jumped to a massive 162 million people. EAC members are now six. Others are Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. In Juba, the decision was reportedly received with excitement with the troubled nation taking the move as a vote of confidence. Analysts see South Sudan’s admission as an opportunity for Kenyan traders to sell their goods and services on a bigger platform. “It is very good for Southern Sudan to be admitted into the EAC in as far as Kenya is concerned. The ultimate aim is to make EAC a free market for goods, services including financial services and labour,” said Mr John Kirimi Sterling Capital executive director. “Kenya has a more developed and diversified market for all the three and it will therefore stand to benefit most.” A huge number of Kenyan corporates already have operations in South Sudan. They include several banks and small scale enterprises all of which have set up base in Juba and other areas. Some of the firms operating in South Sudan through subsidiaries or cross-border sales networks include UAP Holdings, East African Breweries Ltd (EABL), KCB, CFC Stanbic Bank, Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank, and Kenya Airways. However there are a number of concerns as well. Businessmen who spoke to Smart Company said while South Sudan accession is welcomed, the country has to...

In Egypt more than 1,500 public and private business delegates and state leaders agreed in February to mobilize massive investments for the implementation of Africa’s largest trading bloc which was created last year by 26 African countries with a total of 620 million consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearing $1.2 trillion. The agreement crowned the “Africa 2016” investment forum held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh. Business leaders convened with government officials and heads of international organizations to discuss trade and investment as engines of progress. African heads of state and government from Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sudan and Togo took part in the forum. No official figures relating to the amount of these investments were released. An Egyptian diplomat talked to IPS on condition of anonymity. Corruption comes first on the list of impediments to investment along with instability, the source said. “The volume of trade between African countries does not exceed 10 percent of the continent’s foreign trade, and will not increase unless tariff barriers are reformed and needed infrastructure is built, such as roads and ports to transport goods, among other,” added the diplomat. Along with the installation of giant power generation plants, a 7,000-kilometres-long Cairo-Cape Town railways line is among large projects that attract private investors. ‘Development is no longer a dream’ “Times have changed in Africa,” said the Business for Africa Forum’s concept document submitted to the meeting. With interest in the continent growing exponentially, some of today’s...

Dar es Salaam — South Sudan has now been admitted into the East African Community (EAC), increasing the membership of the common market to six, with a population of 162 million people. The 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha resolved to admit Africa's newest nation into the economic bloc on Wednesday. "South Sudan is a new member of the EAC," said the EAC secretariat on its social media site on Wednesday. A statement from the EAC headquarters in Arusha before the announcement showed that the issue was high on the agenda of the meeting. It said the leaders would decide "on the negotiations on the admission of South Sudan into the community," among other issues. South Sudan now joins Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, and it will be part of the regional integration projects that have been the subject of discussion among member countries, some for years now. South Sudan applied for EAC membership soon after gaining its independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, upon being invited by the presidents of Kenya and Rwanda. There has been mixed reactions from various quarters, on whether or not it is the right time for South Sudan to join the EAC. Some critics have suggested that it would have been better for the cuntry to resolve its political issues at home first. Others say the tensions should not bar or distract South Sudan's desire to be part of one of Africa's biggest regional bloc. Another group of analysts believe...

An EAC Mobile Application meant to disseminate news, information and reports on a timely basis about the current state of affairs and development has been unveiled. The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Richard Sezibera, unveiled the mobile application version 3.2 at the 4th EAC Secretary General’s Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, yesterday. Amb. Sezibera hailed the EAC Youth Ambassadors’ Platform, the architect of the application, for the brilliant innovation. He singled out Brian Joseph Otim, Jacob Eyeru, Dennis Leku and Herbert Esemu from the EAC Youth Ambassadors Platform, Uganda Chapter, for developing the first-ever EAC mobile application product and making it accessible globally. In a statement from the EAC, Sezibera said the application, also known as EAC in the Palm, was free, open and easily accessed mobile platform dedicated to easing sharing and disseminating EAC related information as well as tracking reports on development programmes in the region. “This will increase information outreach and sensitisation on the EAC integration process in real time,” said Amb. Sezibera. At the launch ceremony, Otim, the head of the EAC Mobile Application Project at the EAC Youth Platform, outlined some of the benefits of the product, which include; prompt information outreach to all citizens of the Community and the rest of the world through individual smartphones. He said this would advance the “one to one” sensitisation efforts of the Community; rebranding EAC on the social global network where information on EAC activities as updated on the website is made available...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) members have elected Xavier Carim of South Africa to head its dispute settlement body (DSB) in yet another effort aimed at putting developing states at the centre of global trading system. Mr Carim will begin by steering DSB’s next regular meeting scheduled for March 23 after WTO delegates elected him by acclamation to replace outgoing chairman Harald Neple of Norway. “At its meeting on February 26, the DSB appointed Ambassador Xavier Carim as the new chair,” WTO Secretariat said in a statement. With a Brazilian, Roberto Azevedo as its director-general, WTO has lately been pulling all stops to project itself as an Africa (and developing states)-friendly agency. In December, the agency settled on Nairobi as the first African city to host its ministerial conference with chairperson - Kenya’s trade and international affairs secretary Amina Mohamed - helping the world to break a 10-year deadlock. Brazil, India, China and South Africa had previously led developing states in championing the anti-domination protests against WTO, leading to collapse of previously ministerial conference. With key reforms already recorded in the negotiation and implementation arms of the WTO, the all-powerful DSB has been seen as the remaining “unfriendly” aspect of multilateral trading system. Kenya unsuccessfully pushed for the appointment of Prof James Thuo Gathii, an international trade scholar, as a member of DSB in part of international efforts to make it appealing to the developing states. When he took over as WTO boss, Mr Xavier Carim Azevedo identified reforms at...

IN SUMMARY The new deal is set to create a conducive environment for investments and trade in goods and services between the two countries by removing uncertainties on taxation. The bilateral DTA was signed in 1979 but had not been ratified by Kenya following some outstanding issues that were contained in the Protocol to the Convention which will now be addressed by the Joint Declaration. Kenya last week signed a joint declaration on avoidance of double taxation (DTA) with Italy to eradicate DTA of income or gains arising in one country and paid to residents of the other country. The new deal is set to create a conducive environment for investments and trade in goods and services between the two countries by removing uncertainties on taxation occasioned by having two different jurisdictions at play. The bilateral DTA was signed in 1979 but had not been ratified by Kenya following some outstanding issues that were contained in the Protocol to the Convention which will now be addressed by the Joint Declaration. “Other benefits of the DTA include facilitation in tax administration through sharing of information by tax authorities of the two countries thus checking tax evasion,” said National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich. Mr Rotich was speaking during a meeting with the Minister for Economy and Finances of the Italian Republic, Pier Carlo Padoan, in Rome, Italy. He said that he was confident the signing and eventual implementation of the Joint Declaration will facilitate the ratification of and bring into force...

By James Anyanzwa East African Community member states have completed drafting crucial legislation required to fast-track the establishment of a single currency regime. The EAC heads of state signed a protocol in November 2013 in Kampala committing to a 10-year road map towards achieving a monetary union in 2024. The protocol provides for the introduction of a single currency and creation of a single central bank for the region. The Bills for the establishment of the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI), East African Bureau of Statistics and the Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission have been completed. "The EAMI Bill was finalised and is awaiting approval by the Sectoral Council on Finance and Economic Affairs, a statistics Bill was negotiated and is with legal drafters while the EA Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission Bill will be negotiated this month," Geoffrey Mwau, director-general of the Budget, Fiscal and Economic Affairs Department in Kenya's National Treasury told The EastAfrican. The review of the Bills by the EAC taskforce had been planned for May 2015 but was delayed due to the political crisis in Burundi. The partner states now have a five-year timeline to achieve key targets. These include overall inflation of eight per cent, fiscal deficit including grants of three per cent of GDP, gross public debt (50 per cent of GDP in net present value terms) and a floor on reserve coverage of 4.5 months' worth of imports. The partner states are also expected to comply with three indicative requirements including a...

By PSCU, ACCRA, Ghana, Mar 6 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for increased trade and investment between Kenya and Ghana in the spirit of Pan-Africanism. He noted that while trade between the two countries continued to record steady growth, there was room to do even better. “Let us continue to interact with each other so as to forge partnerships that will lead to more business, more skills transfer and complement the magnificent tourism sector that exists in our two countries,” the President said. President Kenyatta spoke Sunday when he joined President John Dramani Mahama and the people of Ghana in celebrations to mark the Western African nation’s 59th Independence Day anniversary that were also attended by President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau at the Black Star Square in Accra. The reciprocal visit to Ghana by President Kenyatta follows President Mahama’s visit in 2014 when he also attended celebrations to mark Kenya’s 51st Jamhuri Day at the Nyayo Stadium. President Kenyatta expressed the need for Kenya and Ghana to harmonize their vision with the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) that is supported by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC). “We take pride in the fact that visa requirements between our two countries is non-existent and our national carrier – Kenya Airways – has daily flights to Accra,” President Kenyatta said. He affirmed his commitment to a borderless Africa, saying he looked forward to working closely with President Mahama and other African...

By Zephania Ubwani Arusha — The East African leaders yesterday stressed that governments should be facilitators and not impediments to the smooth flow of business in the region. "Governments have to facilitate trade growth and not block it," stressed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during the official launch of the project to upgrade of the Arusha-Holili road into a dual carriageway that will extend to Voi on the Kenyan side. He said despite the pumping millions of dollars by donors for the improvement of transport networks that would ease communication in the region, unnecessary restrictions by governments have proved to be a drawback. The Kenyan leader said despite countless agreements made to remove the non-tariff barriers (NTBs), there were still many restrictions that hamper cross-border trade and movement of people, touching mostly the lower segment of the people. "It looks like the governments are still obsessed with the out-dated laws of fortified boundaries. But the wananchi are trading among themselves," he told the huge gathering at Tengeru township along the Arusha-Moshi highway in the presence of President John Magufuli and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, among others. He said during a similar road launch event at Taveta on the Kenyan side of the border last October, half of the hundreds of people who attended were Tanzanians who are small-scale traders doing business in the larger Taveta inside Kenya. President Uhuru, speaking in perfect Kiswahili, warned that unless the political leaders in East Africa discarded their isolationist notions, the region would continue to...

By Anne Kiruku­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­, Arusha, Tanzania The opening of the Holili/Taveta One-Stop Border Post, a testament of the enormous investment the region is making in regional integration initiatives, will need to be accompanied by a thorough determination in dealing with associated challenges. The construction of more than a dozen similar border posts is a great leap towards realization of East Africa’s dream of One People, One destiny – a dream that ever so often seems distant given the roadblocks of official intransigence driven especially by parochial nationalistic sentiments. The new border post, like all the others, will now ease the movement of goods and people across borders. This will in turn boost trade by facilitating faster clearance of cargo and travelers. There will be a significant reduction in transport costs as well, all due to the more effective border control mechanisms being put in place. The border post will also ensure greater sharing of social and cultural norms by the communities living on either side of the Kenya-Tanzania border, a crucial factor in fostering faster integration. It will also create synergy and unity of purpose for the people of the border communities of the two countries. This noble initiative, however, must be accompanied by a determination to deal decisively with the enormous challenges that are threatening to dim the light of the East African Community regional integration agenda. Of particular concern is the menace of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which is constantly threatening to rip the integration agenda apart. businesspersons across the...