Kampala. Job creation and transfer of technology must be part of the outcome of the negotiation between the EAC countries and the US, an analyst has cautioned. Currently, EAC member states are developing a regional negotiation model which will be used to engage the US on matters pertaining to trade and investment within the region as well as enhancing trade between the two parties. Generally, the EAC-US Trade and Investment Partnership is an initiative that seeks to support the EAC economic integration as well as enhancing the EAC-US trade and investment relationship. According to Mr Francis Mangeni, a trade analyst and the director of trade customs and monetary affairs at Comesa, the five EAC member states, among them Uganda, must ensure that the agreement has a provision that regulates the entry of investors into the country. Mr Mangeni said investors should come here (in EAC) not on their terms but according to the conditions of the regional governments. Without such restriction some investors, he said, could end up messing the country then pack their bags and walk away the way they came in- scot free. Mr Mangeni was speaking last week in Entebbe during a regional stakeholders consultative meeting. The Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (Seatini) country director, Jane Nalunga, said: “We must know what we want and always negotiate on the basis of what we want—and not from the point of weakness.” Efforts—facilitating local trade. “In negotiations there is a need for strategy. And those...

The East African Community (EAC), an inter-governmental organisation comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania, is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the US to eliminate the fear of unilateral withdrawal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the US government. EAC believes the limitation of AGOA is that it is unilateral and can be withdrawn any time. This year the US extended the AGOA up to September 30, 2025, but the EAC thinks that this span of 10 years is insufficient for increasing trade volume by leaps and bounds. Hence, the EAC recently submitted its plea to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modus operandi and the time to begin negotiations on the pact, according to African media reports. The community of five members seeks a trade partnership similar to the one it shares with EU, which provides protection against undue competition. EAC also believes that it has not been able to utilise the US quota-free market under AGOA since the agreement does not match the World Trade Organization's structure for free trade agreements due to its 10-years duration of operations. The long-term trade agreement, which EAC is pushing for will include services and foreign investment for matters concerning development, apart from those required for trade in goods. Trade between the EAC countries and the US was worth $2.8 billion in 2014, with US exports to EAC being $2 billion, and imports from the region amounting to $743 million. (HO) Source: Fibre2Fashhion.com

Communities living within a ten-kilometer radius of the common boundary between Kenya and Tanzania have been exempted from custom regulations whilst trading in goods and services. A communiqué singed between Kenya and Tanzania allows those living near the border to move freely without being subjected to movement permits. Trade between countries is normally regulated to ensure each country reaps maximum benefits from the deals. This could either be through tax collection or control of entry of some goods. However, communities of living closer to the border are seen as being denied the market if both countries slap blanket regulations. It is on this backdrop that Kenya and Tanzania in 2012 signed a deal allowing those living within a ten-kilometer radius of the common border to move freely without being subjected to movement permits. However, recently the Maasai community raised concern about some taxation imposed against their livestock while they crossed the border in search of pasture. A representative of the community stressed the need of involving them in the integration journey which was a pre-curser to the operationalization of the One Stop Border Posts. Based on this Kenya Revenue Authority and Tanzania Revenue Authority convened meetings to address the issue. A ten man committee was formed to come up with cross border procedures and regulations for the peaceful co-existence between the pastoralist Maasai community and other stakeholders, to ensure that livelihood amongst the local communities was not disrupted, as the move would impact negatively the success of the EAC integration....

East African countries should always do impact assessments and look out for rewards in each agreement they negotiate with their partners, trade experts have said. Dr Francis Mangeni, the director of Trade Customs and Monetary Affairs, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), says EAC countries ought to negotiate from a point of strength, stating the performance requirements and sequencing of bargaining conditions. “Before you go into these negotiations, you need to prepare and do your homework. This will tell you how to structure your plans,” he said during a regional stakeholder consultative meeting. The workshop was held under the theme of Promoting pro-development investment policies and agreements in the EAC, and was organised by SEATINI Uganda with support from Diakonia, a development organisation. A performance requirement refers to things that tell an investor what a country’s priorities are. Sequencing bargaining is a condition where investors are given preferential treatment according to a country’s national laws. While presenting a paper on investment and sustainable development in regional integration within the EAC community, Mangeni said: “Before an investor enters into a country, he or she should be subjected to performance requirements. There is no country on earth that gives anyone a right of entry into their country for the sake.” Ambassador Nathan Irumba, the SEATINI executive director, said thinking long-term as opposed to short-term investment will add value to the country. “There is a quest for investments in the partner states, but the question is can we have the right...

President Uhuru Kenyatta has invited US companies to take advantage of Kenya’s new policy on special economic zones. The President said the Special Economic Zones Act he enacted recently revolutionizes the business environment for industries operating in Kenya as it has removed restrictions previously affecting companies based in export processing zones. “Our new special economic zones law allows you to manufacture goods that you can sell to Kenya and export to the region as well as the rest of the world,” the President said when he addressed   a meeting hosted by a consortium of US companies and the Corporate Council on Africa on Tuesday morning. The special economic zones law provides incentives for industries to operate in designated zones including Naivasha, near the Ol Karia geothermal power plants. Companies that set up bases in the designated economic zones will be given special power tariffs that will enable them to reduce their cost of operations, said the President. President Kenyatta said the Standard Gauge Railway, whose construction is underway between Mombasa and Nairobi, will soon be extended to Naivasha before it is finally stretched further to the western borders of the country. The SGR will enable the swift transit of goods between the port of Mombasa and the wider Eastern Africa region. President Kenyatta said the integration process going on in the East African Community will enable companies operating in Kenya to benefit from a larger market. He said opportunities for US firms in Kenya are immense and in diverse sectors,...

EAST African manufacturers have raised concern over lack of standards in some cosmetic products which they say is negatively impacting on sales. The East African Community (EAC) manufacturers observed that the products without standards cannot compete favourably on the international markets. Simpson Birungi, managing director at Movit Cosmetics said since many products have no standards to benchmark on for quality assurance, their products are being shunned in other countries. "We need to all adopt specific standards from European Union to enable us trade and remain competitive. This will enable us generate more revenue since our products' geographical supply chain will not be limited to only EAC states," explained Birungi Birungi was recently making a presentation at Speke Hotel, Munyonyo on the key non-tariff barriers during the East Africa's manufacturer's summit. The summit attracted the manufacturing industries with the goal of developing the element of challenges facing manufacturer's across EAC member states. Top on the agenda that manufacturers also noted was the bureaucratic multiple testing of the products in adherence to quality. They cited how products are tested at many points and after having passed the test, the same products are again subjected to other tests. "We feel this is becoming more bureaucratic and time wasting as we transport our commodities to different markets. If possible, let us harmonious the East African standards body to conform to one form of tests," said Birungi According to the East African protocol, once a product has the Q mark, it means it is granted...

The single online portal for lodging trade documents, commonly known as the National Electronic Single Window system, will have two back-up modules to prevent disruption during outages. Amos Wangora, acting chief executive Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade), the State agency charged with implementing the single electronic window system (SWS), said the primary site would be supported to lower the risk of disruption. “By end of the year we will also have a third site — the disaster recovery site — that in case the other two are down we will still have a third site with all material backed,” said Mr Wangora during the signing of a new MoU with TradeMark Africa (TMA) in Nairobi last week. He said more than 20 government agencies have so far integrated their operations with the SWS. Several agencies including the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are already operating on the platform that has also been piloted by other East Africa Community (EAC) partner state, Rwanda. This online facility enables parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. For hardware and software, the system encourages interoperability for those involved in trade logistics. Mr Wangora said the agency is also working on an online trade information portal that would enable users to network in the region and help to cut the cost of doing business by eliminating...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 28 – The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and TradeMark Africa (TMA) have signed a two-year agreement that will see an extension of a financial grant to KAM. The grant is aimed at supporting KAMs advocacy work in the area of Non Tariff Barriers, Standards and Counterfeits.
This is the second phase of TMAs partnership with KAM for creating a better business environment for the industry and to enhance the manufacturing sector competitiveness in the region. “TMA’s keenness to support KAM has carved out a productive space for advocacy and engagement with the necessary sections of the government,” KAM CEO Phyllis Wakiaga said. TMA Kenya Country Director Dr Chris Kiptoo said the partnership will also help in engagement with the relevant authorities in a bid to address the challenges identified in the first phase of this partnership. “We are looking into implementing advocacy campaigns especially related to Non-Tariff Barriers, Trade in Counterfeits, Anomalies in the Common External Tariff (CET) and access to trade and Market Information,” Kiptoo said. The first phase of the project focused on building and evidence base for advocacy in the key priority areas identified by KAM which include tax reforms in Kenya, cost of quality compliance, Domestic non-tariff barriers affecting industry in Kenya, Constitutional issues affecting business, overlapping regulatory roles and the severity of counterfeits. Wakiaga emphasized on the need for intervention in the areas manufacturers face challenges so as to ensure a competitive business environment is realised. “Our manufacturing sector has remained stagnant...

Communities living within the radius of ten kilometers along the common boundaries of the East African Community member states can now move freely with their goods and services without being subjected to customs regulations. A communique signed between the Republic of Kenya and, United Republic of Tanzania in 22nd February 2012, allows for example communities living between Ilbisil in Kenya and Longido in Tanzania to move freely without being subjected to the rigors of the movement permits. The announcement was made recently during a 2nd Joint Border committee meetings for Kenya and Tanzania held at the Namanga border post, Tanzania. The meetings were coordinated by the Kenyan and Tanzania’s Revenue Authority officials. They were co-chaired by revenue station managers Dishon Njuguna (Kenya Revenue Authority), and Aminiel Lewis Malisa (Tanzania Revenue Authority. A ten-man committee was formed during the meeting to come up with  cross-border procedures and regulations for the peaceful co-existence between the  pastoralist Masai community and other stakeholders, to ensure that  livelihood amongst the local communities was not disrupted, as the move would impact negatively the success of the EAC integration. Malisa challenged the border committees to come up with simplified trade regime, to enable the community living along the common border move with ease. The move comes after the Masai community raised concern about some taxation imposed against their livestock while they crossed the border in search of pasture. A representative of the community Keria Ole Mandina stressed the need of involving them in the integration journey which...

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the country sold goods worth Sh36 billion to Uganda in the period to July, up from Sh27.7 billion in a similar period last year. Exports to Uganda — the largest buyer of Kenyan goods — have been declining since 2011 on what experts attributed to a vibrant manufacturing sector in Kampala and local firms opening shop in the neighbouring country. The drop defied the creation of the East African Community (EAC) common market in 2010, which was expected to boost commerce among five member states, including Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Uganda has been Kenya’s top importer since 2007. The UK, which has ruled the exports table for a long time, comes a distant second after Kenya bought goods worth Sh22.1 billion from its former colonial master, up from Sh21.3 billion in the first seven months of last year. Goods to Tanzania were valued at Sh14.9 billion, down from Sh20.7 billion in the seven months to July 2014. Kenyan sales to Tanzania included medicines, soap, polish, sweets and snacks (sugar confectionery) and construction materials. Tanzania has previously been accused of putting non-trade barriers on Kenyans including delay of work permits. Kenyan companies operating in the country have also complained of being treated harshly by unfriendly authorities and slow licensing. Earlier this year, the two countries were involved in a trade row following a ban on Kenyan tour vans from accessing Tanzanian parks. Kenya reciprocated by barring Dar tour vehicles from Nairobi’s...