A global political risk assessor has said that Kenya's position as a dominant regional economic player can only be guaranteed if it creates a conducive business environment by enhancing security within and beyond its borders. Global Risk Insights (GRI) stated that Kenya needs goodwill from all political players for business to thrive as well as enhanced institutional capacity within government agencies to address security issues at points of entry into the country. This, GRI stated, will lock out "harmful substances" that could be used to destabilise the business environment forcing investors to flee or to shun Kenya. In an article titled 'Can Kenya's Security Keep Up With Trade' authored by Defence and Political Analyst Mr Cameron Ever, DRI state that "the effectiveness of international assistance efforts to improve Kenya's trade and security environment depends upon Kenya's political will and institutional capability to maintain these initiatives long after international partners have returned home." He added establishment of a government in Somalia signals weakening of Somalia-based terror groups giving Mombasa a chance to rise to its glorious past as an economic hub which will create an enormous development ripple-effect on industries based in Nairobi and within other regions. "As economic stakes are raised, terrorism and non-proliferation of small arms require political focus and follow-through. Fortunately there are signs that promote hope for the future and Kenya is not alone in the process," said Mr Evers. ECONOMIC HUB GRI stated that while broad international efforts to assist in securing Kenya from terrorism are...

The partnership seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Customs administrations and grow prosperity in the region Nairobi, 15 December 2015 - TradeMark Africa (TMA) has today signed an initial 5 year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Customs Organization (WCO) in the implementation of key areas of mutual strategic interest around the trade facilitation agenda in East Africa. [caption id="attachment_11154" align="alignleft" width="600"] TradeMark Africa (TMA) CEO exchanging MOU documents with Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Kunio Mikuriya in Nairobi, Kenya[/caption] The partnership will see the two organisations collaborate in setting up a framework for boosting international and regional trade in the EAC and implementing key trade facilitation initiatives – predominantly through the use of WCO trade facilitation tools - to help implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. The collaboration will see both parties strive to improve border management procedures and customs clearance procedures, as well as bring in automated features such as the implementation of electronic single windows in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of trade regulatory environment. Speaking during the signing, TMA CEO Frank Matsaert said that the new partnership will be a great milestone in the organization’s ultimate objective of growing prosperity through trade. “This partnership will allow us to implement best practice international trade tools and instruments that will propel us in our journey towards improving the regional trade landscape, with tangible and sustainable gains for all citizens of East Africa.” TMA works closely with EAC Institutions, national governments,...

Dar es Salaam – December 11, 2015 – Finland and TradeMark Africa (TMA) signed an agreement for additional funding on Friday December 11th to further support TMA's work in enhancing trade across the East African Community to increase prosperity in the region. The agreement was signed by the Finnish Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Pekka Hukka and Mr. Ali Murufuki, TMA Board Chair. Finland has supported TMA since 2013. The grant agreement will make available an additional Euro 2 million (approximately TZS 4.7 billion) to TMA activities in Tanzania. [caption id="attachment_11134" align="alignleft" width="600"] TMA Board Chair Ali Mufuruki exchanging MOU documents with the Finnish Deputy Head of Mission in Tanzania, Simo-Pekka Parviainen[/caption] The additional funding is intended to fill some funding gaps in the implementation of TMA's Strategy 1. They will help TMA to achieve its goals of enhancing trade and removing trade barriers more efficiently than with their original budget. The funds will be directed at enhancing one-stop border posts at Holili, Mutukula and Kabanga and improving cross-border trade. The logistics industry will also be supported to be organized more efficiently. At the moment, East Africa’s trade corridors are characterized by long transit times and high costs. Freight costs per kilometre are more than 50% higher than costs in the United States and Europe. "Tanzania needs a business friendly environment that attracts investment, both domestic and from abroad. A key part of this equation is making logistics cheaper and more effective," emphasized the Finnish Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Pekka Hukka. TradeMark...

The Northern Corridor Integration Project countries yesterday started their twelfth summit in Kigali to review progress achieved in the implementation of earmarked projects. The summit, which is held every two months, began with a two-day meeting of senior regional officials, heads of institutions and permanent secretaries from the participating countries who will prepare a report on the progress for regional ministers. Officials at the meeting represent the four countries who are part of the initiative; Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan. Ministers representing member countries will hold a session on Wednesday to review the report prepared by their countries' technical teams after which they will present a progress report to the Heads of State.Monique Mukaruliza, the national coordinator of the Northern Corridor Intergration Projects, told The New Times that over the four days, delegates would review the progress in the 14 earmarked projects, emerging issues, challenges as well as the way forward. "The summit is also a chance to report and evaluate directives from the previous summit," she said. Other than the members of the initiative, observers keen on working with the body on selected projects are also attending the summit. Among the observers present at the summit include, Burundi, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania and Djibouti. Bodies such as East African Community (EAC), the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority and the Regional private sector are also represented. 'Keen for partnerships' Mukaruliza said observer states and bodies are keen on possible partnerships and involvement in the regional projects. "Ethiopia, for...

Nordic countries have not only largely overcome economic problems but have also weathered the storm of the global economic crisis much better than many of their European neighbours. East African economies can, therefore, pick lessons from the economic model that has seen these Scandinavian countries succeed. Although this model followed by Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark has long been conflict-ridden in some quarters, some people are exalting it while others are just trying to forget everything about it. About three weeks ago, hundreds of delegates from East Africa and the Nordic region were in Kampala for the first Nordic-East Africa Trade Summit & Expo organised by the Nordic Business Association in Uganda. The two-day event saw business leaders from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, and their counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland deliberate on business issues of mutual interest. In a pre-event meet with Daily Monitor, the communications advisor to the Nordics in Uganda, Shamilla Kara, said: "The summit will bring together businesspeople and entrepreneurs from both sides to discuss business opportunities and to build contacts for trade and investment. These will be days of great interaction, compelling content and business networking." Ms Kara's words pose the question of what these small European nations would teach the seemingly big East African countries, including the gigantic Tanzania. But she had insisted that the expo was a great opportunity for East Africa, especially Uganda. But what is this model? The Nordic model (also called Nordic capitalism or Nordic social democracy)...

Kenya and Ethiopia have signed a 185-million-euro deal to end conflict along their common border and spur development. The leaders of both countries promised that the deal would create jobs, reduce poverty and foster trade in their restive borderlands, where conflict has intensified in recent years. The pact, signed in the border town of Moyale, should help the local communities overcome the isolation that has been a barrier to development in the region, leaders say. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn hope it will bring peace and stability to their borders in the region, as well as bring about sustainable development in the northern Marsabit county of Kenya and Ethiopia’s southern Borana zone. Around two-thirds of the population of Kenya's Marsabit County, more than 70,000 people, have fled, mostly to Borana, where many have relatives. The main economic focus of the deal is on developing the area’s untapped energy and mineral resources and meat and livestock trade to create jobs for youth. Trade relations between the two neighbouring countries leave room for improvement but this is nevertheless a milestone.  "This is certainly a significant development in trade between Kenya and Ethiopia which, although they’re neighbours, have as yet at any rate very limited amount of trade between them," Christopher Clapham, from the African Studies Centre at Cambridge University, told RFI. "The latest figures I have are of the order of 13 to 14 million dollars a year from Kenya to Ethiopia and only about a third...

Roberto Azevedo is a very optimistic diplomat. It is an attitude he has cultivated over a long period as a career diplomat representing his country, Brazil, in high-profile missions. But he will need an extra muscle to sustain his expectation of a good outcome from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Tenth Ministerial Conference that kicks off in Nairobi next Tuesday. In his two years as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General, he has used every available opportunity to exude confidence that members of the trade organisation will finally end a trade dispute that has pitted rich nations and poor nations since 2001. His optimism will be severely tested in the face of a possible explosion of the organisation that he took over leadership in 2013. An explosion because both rich and poor nations are increasingly losing patience with the WTO as a platform to make global trade serve or protect their economic interests. The heart of the disillusionment with the WTO is the obstinate refusal by rich nations which include the US, Canada, Japan and European Union to abolish trading policies in agriculture and food security, and intellectual property rights that give them advantage over poor nations. The negotiations to end these trading practices are referred to as the Doha Development Agenda or simply the Doha Round because they started in Doha, Qatar in 2001. Developing nations want rich countries to put an end to agricultural subsidies which give their farmers an unfair advantage against those from developing countries....

Players in the transport sector are meeting in the city to discuss ways of improving infrastructure as the trade volume is increasing in Africa. The two-day second Africa Ports and Rail Summit which started yesterday attracted industry leaders, port owners, investors, governments and service solution providers from across the region who are charting ways that can assist in international cooperation for the development of ports in Africa and share global experience. While majority stressed the need for railways to facilitate movement of goods to and from the ports, others said port operators should also focus on building dry ports in the landlocked countries to decongest the ports. The stakeholders also called for more investment in both ports and railways as population and trade volumes increased every year. “Africa’s population is expected to grow from the current 1.1 billion to 1.6 billion in the next one year and that means the trade volume will also increase. Are our ports ready for this growth?” challenged Ms Nozipho Mdawe, secretary general of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA). Mr Paul Wallace, the chief executive officer of Tanzania International Container Terminal Services Ltd (TICTS) which handles cargo at the port of Dar es Salaam, explained how the containers have been increasing at the port and called for more investment to tap the potentials while delivering at the reasonable time Source: Hellenic Shipping News

Johannesburg — Africa and China have vowed to focus on industrialisation which they hope will unlock inclusive economic growth and sustainable development for the continent. The two sides believe that industrialisation, if implemented effectively, has the potential to unlock opportunities beyond borders, leading to sustained economic growth and development. While Africa has experienced sustained economic growth above 5% over the last decade - with some countries above 7% - the contribution from industrialisation was minimal. Industrialisation is closely linked to infrastructure development and job creation and has been identified as a precondition for Africa to achieve inclusive economic growth. In his address during the China-Africa Business Forum held during the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Jacob Zuma said Africa is ripe for industrialisation. "The truth is that Africa is rising and Africa has a bright future. It all depends on all of us here to make things happen," President Zuma said. Africa's growth has been attributed to the increasingly sound macro-economic environment with low government debt, rising domestic resource mobilisation and reduced inflation rates. The consumer market in the continent is said to be rising in line with its growing population while the environment for doing business is steadily improving in light of successful remedial actions in governance and economic management. The rollout of technology and innovation is also improving the access to financial services. This is in addition to the abundance of natural resources. Over the past five years, 30% of global oil and...

MOMBASA (Xinhua) -- Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) on Saturday announced a 10.8 percent growth in cargo shipment at the Mombasa port in the first nine months. KPA Managing Director Gichiri Ndua said the port handled a total of 19.87 million tonnes of cargo from January to September, against 18.05 million tonnes recorded in 2014. Mombasa port is among the top 120 world container ports due to its efficiency in handling cargo, and cargo volumes are rising this year due to the expanded port capacity and improved efficiency, according to KPA. Source: Coastweek