There was optimism last week after Kenya and Tanzania announced they had resolved a trade dispute that was threatening the economic and diplomatic ties between the two East African Community nations. However, despite the apparent truce, Kenyan businesses have complained that Tanzania has continued to place restrictions. Authorities in the neighbouring country have been accused of placing multiple hurdles for Kenyan products. It is noteworthy that Tanzanian traders now enjoy the benefits of the agreement that, among other things, has allowed them to bring into Kenya Liquefied Petroleum Gas and wheat. This not only leaves local traders at a disadvantage but is also frustrating, considering that the announcement of the deal by Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and her counterpart Augustine Mahiga was seen as an indicator of better times ahead. TRADE WARS It is important for the Foreign and Trade Cabinet Secretaries to take seriously issues raised by the business community, including the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, and resolve what appears to so far be a lopsided arrangement that favours Tanzania. It is in nobody’s interest for these two EAC members to sustain trade wars of any kind. While it is true Kenya-Tanzania relations have not been at their best in recent years, the latest move to resolve the standoff shows there is a great opportunity to resolve any pending economic and diplomatic issues. It is, however, crucial that any deal reached must be implemented fully and in good faith by both sides. Indeed, the region should...

Kenya has launched a strategic plan for green economy to help reduce pressure on natural resources and spur economic growth. The Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP) sets Kenya’s transition to a resource efficient, low carbon and inclusive green economy. “The strategy is a result of our plan to better utilise our natural resources and ensure greater socioeconomic growth as a country,” Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources Prof Judi Wakhungu said at the launch on Thursday. Wakhungu noted that the demand for water, soils, air and ecosystems in the country continue to attract more pressure coupled with unpredictable weather patterns fuelled by climate change that poses great challenge to rain-fed agriculture based economy. “The strategy is earmarked to strengthen the country’s third medium term plan by increasing growth across all sectors to attaining economic growth rate of 10 percent and above to ensure the economy doubles in size in eight years,” she added. GESIP proposes support for rapid economic growth, infrastructure development, diversification and commercialisation of agriculture, food security, better health and education, youth employment and improved water sources and sanitation. Wakhungu said actions taken to slow down and adapt to climate change has helped broaden environmental management for planning and development in the country. Through a number of initiatives and with support from development partners, Kenya has made strides in mainstreaming the green economy in small businesses across the country. Environmental experts from the government have conducted pilot trainings for county personnel in Mombasa and Nakuru....

Negotiations for the creation of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) will be finalised at the end of October. The TFTA brings together 26 countries— partner states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. The TFTA Council of Ministers, in their recent meeting held in Kampala on July 7, set a new timeframe of three months to clear outstanding issues, especially on tariffs and ratification of the agreement by the member countries. At the launch of the TFTA on June 10, 2015 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, the heads of state set a timeframe of 12 months for finalising the negotiations, but by October 2016, there were outstanding issues, prompting the ministers extend the deadline to April 2017. That, too, was missed. Now, Francis Mangeni, director of Trade and Customs at Comesa, says the October 30 deadline must be met, as the TFTA faces an existential risk from the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) expected to be launched by the end of the year. “Some countries argue that with the 55-member CFTA, the TFTA is unnecessary,” said Dr Mangeni. “Besides, they add, the TFTA is not as ambitious as the CFTA.” At the Kampala meeting, the ministers agreed on the rules of origin, trade remedies and dispute settlement mechanisms. “The adoption of these three outstanding issues represented a milestone in the tripartite negotiations, as it removed the last obstacle to signing and ratifying the agreement,” Dr Mangeni said....

Tensions between Kenya and Tanzania are set to ease after the two countries agreed to hold talks on the long standing trade dispute between them, leading to the signing of a pact on July 23. The two countries are also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting after Kenya’s August 8 election to iron out their historical trade differences. Tanzania postponed similar talks in April, demanding that Nairobi lift gas restrictions first before any meeting could take place. Following the Sunday deal, Kenya has now allowed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Tanzania into its market after a four-month ban. However, the deal’s implementation was delayed as the relevant agencies awaited official communication from their respective ministries. It is understood that a delay in sending a circular allowing Tanzanian LPG into the Kenyan market caused doubts among businesspeople in the two countries, who continued to face bottlenecks at the Customs border points. Kenya’s Energy Ministry issued the circular on Thursday to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS), the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Treasury. “The Energy Ministry sent the circulars this morning and we have communicated the same to KeBS. So far, we understand that more than 10 trucks loaded with the gas were allowed in, so it is now official: The ban isn’t in place anymore,” Kenya’s Trade Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo told The EastAfrican on Thursday. The Sunday deal saw Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahinga announce an end to the import restrictions on liquefied...

Brookside Dairy is among the nearly 20 Kenyan companies that have been blocked from accessing the Tanzanian market despite last week’s deal lifting trade restrictions between the two countries. Matters are complicated by the requirement for Kenyan professionals to pay Sh5,000 for business visas – even for a one-day working visit - defying a regional agreement allowing a free pass of up to six months on the job. Hostilities between the two countries continue to fester despite a high-level meeting called on Sunday where a truce was called. “The United Republic of Tanzania will lift restriction on milk and milk products and cigarettes manufactured in Kenya with immediate effect,” read a joint statement issued by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahiga. Among the products that had heightened the animosity between the two countries in the recent past are cooking gas. Kenya banned its importation from Tanzania, citing quality issues. Kenya had also imposed a ban on wheat from Tanzania and the latter retaliated by banning exportation of unprocessed foods, milk products, and cigarettes. Kenyan business community under the aegis of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Thursday detailed the extent of their frustrations at the hands of Tanzanian authorities. “We have received complaints from our members reporting that there still is a total blockade when it comes to accessing the Tanzania market,” said the lobby in a statement. Other companies affected by the trade ban include another milk processor New KCC, cigarette manufacturer BAT, all the cement makers, Vivo Llubricants, which...

Whatever its causes and justifications, there can’t be doubt that the ongoing trade spat between Kenya and Tanzania is hurting business and ultimately the economy on both sides. To be frank, it is on such matters of economic welfare that citizens should expect their governments to spare no effort in resolving. That this trade war continued in the week after a truce speaks volumes about the level of trust between the top diplomats Amina Mohammed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahinga. One would have expected that the parties would implement the pact immediately. If Kenya has lifted its ban on Tanzanian goods, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as per the agreement, it must then follow up with Tanzania to ensure Dar keeps its side of the bargain and quickly find alternative means of resolving the issue. Kenya and Tanzania being members of the East African Community, it must be expected that both have anchored their economies, and therefore the welfare of their people, in free trade. Arbitrary trade restrictions deny consumers lower prices, greater variety of goods and harm investment inflows, among other negative consequences. What is particularly surprising about all this is that both countries are members of the EAC’s Common Market protocol, whose essence is to promote free movement of goods among other factors of production. It is clear that both Kenya and Tanzania import the bulk of their goods — not from each other — but from the more developed economies such as China, the United Arab...

Nairobi officials have yet to make contact with Tanzania amid a trade spat that has seen the neighbouring country block the entry of some Kenyan-made goods to its market despite having inked a fresh pact on Sunday. Trade PS Chris Kiptoo on Thursday said he was unsuccessful in efforts to reach Dar es Salam authorities for explanations on Tanzania’s introduction of fresh hurdles for Kenyan goods to access its market. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) said Tanzania had maintained a number of restrictions that existed before the Sunday truce making it hard for Kenyan products to access its markets. Kenyan Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahinga announced last Sunday that the two states had agreed to end the restrictions after ironing out long-standing trade differences. “I am still trying to engage my Tanzanian colleague but so far, I am yet to reach him,” Mr Kiptoo told the Business Daily in a phone interview on Thursday. Thursday , the traders who were locked in an all-day meeting with the KAM policy team over the issue confirmed the restrictions were still on. “The status quo remains,” a source from the meeting told the Business Daily. Kenya lifted restrictions it had imposed on Tanzanian wheat flour and liquefied petroleum gas while Tanzania removed its blockade of Kenyan milk and milk products, and cigarettes. But the KAM said restrictions on Kenyan goods accessing Tanzania remained intact bringing to question the execution of the Sunday agreement. Margarine, Ice cream and tobacco were...

The cost of the August 8 General Election on Kenya’s economy has started to emerge, with firms scaling down production, investors holding on to their cash and neighbouring countries redirecting their cargo to Tanzanian ports, away from Mombasa. Foreign governments, especially in the West, driven by uncertainty, have stepped up travel advisories to their citizens in the country and those intending to visit, warning that “in the past, some political protests, rallies and demonstrations have turned violent.” International organisations whose business is outside the provision of humanitarian services and foreign firms have given their staff permission to leave for neighbouring countries a week before and stay until a week after the elections, citing uncertainty over the poll, whose main contenders are Jubilee’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance’s Raila Odinga. GRIM PICTURE Sources in the business community who sought anonymity for fear of being seen to be painting a grim picture over the elections said a majority of companies had scaled down production, while investors are holding onto their finances awaiting the outcome of the elections. They were particular that banks, which are normally hard hit with uncertainty, had limited the amount of loans lent to individuals until after the elections, with one of the sources saying they were lending out a maximum of Sh5 million. However, businessman Vimal Shah played down fears within the business community, saying: “So far, so good. I don’t know of any business that has suffered as a result of the election fever. People...

Dar es Salaam/Arusha. Tanzania and Kenya plan to form a joint committee and set up a channel of communication to deal with future trade disputes. The decision was reached during a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, and his Kenyan counterpart, Ms Amina Mohamed, last Sunday in Nairobi. The two ministers met to discuss a trade dispute triggered by Kenya’s ban on cooking gas imports from Tanzania. Dr Mahiga told reporters on Monday in Dar es Salaam that in addition to the joint trade committee, the two countries would also set up a communication channel to facilitate real time consultations in case of a trade dispute. The proposed committee will supplement the Joint Cooperation Commission (JCC) that was revived last November after President John Magufuli visited Kenya. “The committee will look into all business-related issues on which the two countries diverge,” Dr Mahiga said. “It’s a committee that will be formed to deal specifically with trade disputes. It will work closely with sectorial ministries from both countries.” Kenya and Tanzania have in recent years been engaged in on-and-off trade and investment disputes, some of which have taken a long time to resolve. Kenya recently banned imports of liquefied petroleum gas from Tanzania, citing safety and quality concerns. Tanzania retaliated by banning imports of cigarettes, margarine and tyres from Kenya and blocked vehicles transporting maize from Zambia to Kenya from passing through Tanzania. Kenya hit back by banning wheat imports from Tanzania. A...

Kenya should set in motion plans for engaging Britain over post-Brexit trade arrangements to avoid shocks to fresh produce exporters, and likely fall in official development funds, a governments policy think-tank has recommended. The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra), Tuesday said the country will be among those hardest hit when Britain starts renegotiating more than 100 trade deals it has under the 28-member European Union. Britain’s exit from the EU, Kenya’s second largest export market after the East African Community (EAC), is likely to take a few years, but Kippra wants the government to start putting precautionary measures in place. Brexit will likely hit exports of tea, flowers and vegetables, and donor funds for infrastructural development projects, largely renewable energy. “As Britain realigns its engagement with other trading partners, Kenya and EAC need to prepare effectively and adequately to engage Britain for mutually beneficial trade relations,” Kippra argues in the Kenya Economic Report 2017 it launched in Nairobi yesterday. “The EU development assistance to Kenya and the EAC might fall because Britain significantly contributes towards the European Development Fund.” The value of exports to the UK fell 7.45 per cent year-on-year in three months through March to Sh10.06 billion, the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows, representing 26.67 per cent share of the country’s Sh37.72 billion exports to the EU. “The impact will depend on how Britain positions itself in terms of bilateral agreements that it will have (after Brexit),” Kippra said....