The presidents of Kenya and Uganda have agreed to resolve trade disputes that are threatening to sour bilateral commercial ties between the two countries. President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to meet his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Mueveni on Saturday August 8, ahead of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) summit scheduled for the following day in Kampala. Among the trade disputes expected to feature in the discussions are the issue of sugar exports into Kenya from Uganda, rice exports, treatment of Ugandan cargo importers at the port of Mombasa and restrictions by Ugandan Authorities on Kenyan beef and cigarette exports. The trade disputes have caused several losses especially to Ugandan traders who have been complaining about unfair treatment from Kenyan Authorities. Uganda has traditionally been Kenya’s top trading partner in the region, and the biggest consumer of Kenyan goods. All-time high Imports from Kenya have been rising, averaging $250 million in 1998, and reaching an all-time high of $475 million in 2014. Last year, President Museveni warned Kenyans that he would block the country’s goods from entering Uganda if the Kenya Revenue Authority did not stop blocking Ugandan exports from entering Kenya. President Museveni said the move was not only “myopic” but that it contravened the East African Community Protocol. “We buy a lot of goods from Kenya. Some of those (KRA) officials are narrow-minded. They wanted to block our sugar. Now they have gone for our chicken. If I say no more, Kenya will feel it,” he said. Uganda has...

East Africa is fast becoming a hotspot for impact investing that promotes not just profits but also sound environmental and social principles. In the past five years, about $9.3 billion in impact investment funds has flowed into the region, according to the latest report produced by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and Open Capital Advisors. Nairobi is identified as the hub of the funding and headquarters of the managers handling the deals, with about half of the $9.3 billion being invested in the country. Uganda and Tanzania received 13 per cent and 12 per cent of the total investments respectively. “Nairobi is the physical hub for impact investing in the region, where 48 impact investors have local offices, and is often the first port of call for impact investors operating in the region,” says the report. However, Ethiopia — the largest economy in public-private-partnership (PPP) terms — has received only around seven per cent of disbursements to date. On the other hand, Rwanda, with an economy just one-eighth the size of Ethiopia’s, has received four per cent of all disbursements. “Notably, the research team was unable to find any evidence of impact investment activity in Eritrea or Somalia, and only minimal activity in Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan and Djibouti,” the report says, adding that the bulk of support provided in the six countries is through bilateral or multilateral government loans. According to the document, impact investment ought to be taken seriously, since...

EAST African Community countries need to engage the private sector when formulating business laws and regulations to accelerate integration under the bloc's common market protocol, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said. He said such consultations will help better the region's business environment, helping firms thrive and spark faster economic growth. Speaking during a business forum on his three-day state visit to west-neighbouring Uganda that ends today, Uhuru however emphasised that companies need to become more innovative and competitive to remain relevant in a highly globalising market. The president held bilateral talks with his host, President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday, focusing on security, anti-terrorism, trade and investment. In a statement to newsrooms yesterday, the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit said the two countries are working on a framework to forge increased collaboration of companies. This will hel;p take advantage of the proposed 700-million people tripartite market bringing together EAC, Comesa and Southern Africa Development Community 26 member countries. The framework will be coordinated by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and its counterpart in Uganda, guided by a memorandum of understanding that the two have signed. Uganda remain's Kenya's largest trading partners with trade volumes of Sh88.88 billion ($880 million) last year, including Sh70.7 billion($700 million) in exports and Sh18.18 billiin in imports($180 million) in imports. “Last year, in keeping with our recent history, the volume of trade between us made Uganda one of Kenya’s most vital trading partners,” Museveni said. Source: The Star

EAST African Community may have a common custom bond in two weeks as the bloc races to enhance faster movement of goods across the five member countries, the Kenya Revenue Authority has said. This is part of the proposed Regional Customs Transit Guarantee, a regime that will ensure authorities in a transit country receive proper payment for dues and duties for goods passing through their territories. The RCTG bonds scheme is designed to fast-track movement of goods under the customs seals. Value of custom bonds presently vary from one country to another because of different duty rates and valuation of goods. “This(RCTG) will put in place a mechanism which the importing country can recover revenue in case of an incidence," KRA commissioner general John Njiraini said. "Once that is completed in one or two weeks, we will now be rolling out further products that will then be secured through this system.” The RCTG was first introduced in 2012 for three countries along Northern corridor – Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda – to facilitate movement of goods from the port of Mombasa to the hinterland. Tanzania joined joined on April 9, this year. Introduction of uniform bonds for the EAC countries is part of the ongoing implementation of the Single Customs Territory system which was launched in October 2013. The SCT allows for assessment and collection of taxes at the port of entry. Its implementation which is in phases is currently at 50 per cent, according to the EAC secretariat. KRA said...

The bilateral political, cultural and economic relations between Kenya and Turkey have been growing stronger in the last 10 years. Kenya aims to further increase trade relations with Turkey, said the Republic of Kenya's first substantive ambassador to Ankara, Julius Kiema Kilonzo on Thursday, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah in Istanbul. Kilonzo highlighted the strength of Turkish exports to Kenya, as Turkey has had increasing figures, particularly in the first two quarters of 2015, and suggested Turkey "lower taxes so that Kenya's goods can find markets here directly", rather than using trade hubs in Europe such as Amsterdam. Kenyan exports to Turkey use European hubs, which lead to double taxation, but with Turkish Airlines flying to the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenyan goods should come to Turkey directly as an alternative hub, Kilonzo said. Kenya's enhanced financial infrastructure and skilled manpower are its highlights as well as what makes it an attractive investment destination, Kilonzo stressed, and said Kenya, as the emerging economy of East Africa, "is looking for a partner that will help it prosper." According to data released by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), Turkey's exports to Kenya increased by 16 percent in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $75.9 million, up from $65 million, which is quite low considering the potential of the countries. Kilonzo also highlighted the significant increase in bilateral relations between Turkey and African countries. "Before the Justice and...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya is expected to benefit from massive infrastructure projects being implemented across the country and thus become a hub for intra-regional trade in Africa, a new study by research firm revealed Saturday. The study by Frost & Sullivan said mega infrastructure projects are planned for East Africa and are set to create unique opportunities and open new markets in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. "Transport infrastructure has undergone major upgrades over the past 5 years in order to support the high trade demand in the East African region," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Economic Consultant Craig Parker in the study. Kenya is implementing several infrastructure projects including the construction of the first phase of the Standard Gauge Railway linking Mombasa and Nairobi. The project is expected to result in both shorter freight delivery time and lower transportation costs, boosting regional trade. The East African nation is also a major beneficiary of Chinese funded infrastructure projects like superhighways, railway network and seaports. The East Africa’s largest economy has a cordial relationship with China whose benefits are being felt across socio-economic spheres. Chinese investments in Kenya’s infrastructure, manufacturing and mining sectors had ripple effects in the eastern African region. The study, African Infrastructure Tracker: Kenya, reveals that an estimated 55.6 billion U.S. dollars in investment into infrastructure development for Kenya is planned (as of 2015), the majority of which will focus on telecommunications and power generation infrastructure. "The Nairobi Southern bypass, for example, was commissioned in 2012 and is already...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) Member States are fine tuning modalities of setting up a single customs regime in order to promote cross border trade, have officials. Heads of revenue authorities from Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, who met in Nairobi, said that countries have been harmonizing policy and legislative frameworks to fast-track the establishment of a single customs territory (SCT). "The process of establishing a single customs territory in the region has not encountered any hitches and would be completed in three years time," Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini said in Nairobi. East African Heads of States have approved the uniform customs regime to ease cross border movement of goods and services The regional countries in 2012 commenced the process of establishing a single customs territory as a means to boost cross border trade, revenue collection and ease of doing business. The EAC is targeting the creation of a political federation, a borderless single state made up of the five countries, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, led by a single president and exercising a single foreign policy. To get the vision of a single state in motion, the Arusha-based EAC Secretariat has been working towards a foreign policy, a common defence policy, a customs union, which is currently in place and the Monetary Union, which aims at a single currency. Njiraini noted that significant ground has been covered since the process of establishing a regional customs regime commenced. "We have covered...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 7 – East African nations are integrating their customs systems to make it possible to have a regional bond for goods in transit. Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini says the bonds scheme is designed to fast-track movement of goods under customs seals in the East Africa region. Value of customs bonds vary from country to country because of different duty rates and valuation of goods. In Kenya, the current procedure requires importers of transit goods to secure a customs bond issued by an insurance company, whilst ‘sensitive’ cargo such as clothes, wines and spirits, tyres and tubes, shoes, electronic goods, second-hand clothes, food commodities (sugar and rice) require a bank or cash guarantee. The customs bond in Uganda is issued by an insurance company and is cancelled upon presentation of a copy CD-COM duly stamped by customs officers of the post of exit. Rwanda also requires a bond in cash. “The adoption of common external tariffs and the introduction of a regional bond guarantee scheme should solve this problem,” said Njiraini during a regional meeting in Nairobi that discussed the implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory (SCT) projects. The meeting comes ahead of the forthcoming 11th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit, to be held in Nairobi. The one day meeting brought together the Commissioners General of Revenue Authorities from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss cargo clearance time and costs. The commissioners discussed the implementation of the...

The US is proposing radical changes in Kenya's port cargo handling procedures to help reduce illicit trade and lock out high-risk consignments. The US government wants Kenya to adopt the Cargo Targeting System (CTS) for cargo processing, the two nations said in a joint communiqué following the recent visit by President Barack Obama. The revelation came ahead of a visit to Washington by a senior Kenyan delegation to discuss best practices in port management. "In addition, the United States commits to work with the government of Kenya to explore the possibility of developing a CTS to receive electronic cargo manifest data from shipping lines to target high-risk shipments based on risk profiles," the document released by the White House read in part. The CTS enables port and security authorities to access electronic cargo manifest data in advance and carry out assessment of risks and target high-risk consignments moving through the supply chain. This has a benefit to the international trade community by increasing supply chain visibility and security, promoting fair and effective revenue collection, reducing levels of illicit trade and allowing better allocation of resources. Of late, Kenya has been facing security threats from the Somalia militant group, Al-Shabaab, which has been blamed for recent attacks on civilians and security personnel. There has also been concern about the incessant trafficking of small arms, drugs and contraband sugar worth millions of shillings. Source: All Africa

The launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) by 26 African countries at the beginning of June brings together the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) and is in line with the long-standing vision of creating an African Economic Union. It is expected that the TFTA will be a building block towards establishing the Continental Free Trade Area by 2017. The TFTA represents a consumer market of about 600 million people and about 58 percent of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product, estimated at US$1.3 trillion. However, Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Immanuel Ngatjizeko, yesterday warned that Namibia needs to increase its industrial capacity to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the TFTA. “Namibia in particular places industrialisation at the centre of its development strategy, hence the need to expand our industrial base is more important now than ever,” said Ngatjizeko during a public seminar on regional and continental economic integration arrangements. He added that his ministry is ready to work with the private sector and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to ensure that the country’s industrial strategy yields results. Ngatjizeko added that policymakers have realised that market liberalisation alone without industrialisation and infrastructure development does not serve the economic purpose, especially in countries like Namibia whose industrial capacity is constrained and not as competitive as other countries. He said for this reason the TFTA emphasises industrialisation and infrastructure development as strategic pillars...