There are still several bottlenecks preventing the East African Common Market becoming a reality. “Common market, open space can only be achieved if the environment is open. If we are going to have free flow of goods and services, mutual recognition agreements all the non tariff barriers have to be eliminated,” Stephen Ruzibiza the Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation (PSF) said last week. He was speaking during a dialogue organised by the East African Trade and Investment Hub (EATIH) together with PSF in Kigali. Ruzibiza said, “This is when we shall say we have a vibrant common market. The private sector here has a role in my opinion” The focus was on reviewing the implementation status of the EAC common market and customs union and explore opportunities for stronger private sector participation in rule making, implementation and monitoring of trade facilitation. Participants shared viwes on how the EATIH can cooperate with the PSF and other partners in respect to getting the EAC Common Market Protocol implemented much faster than at present. The Common Market Protocol has been in force since 2010, in line with the provisions of the EAC Treaty. It follows the Customs Union, which became fully-fledged in January 2010. Basic ingredients of the Protocol are Free Movement of Goods; Free Movement of Persons; Free Movement of Labour / Workers; Right of Establishment; Right of Residence; Free Movement of Services; Free and Movement of Capital. Ruzibiza said, “It is good that now the private sector together...

Someone once asked me what I know about Angola, and I excitedly started to list all the things I had seen, read and watched on television about this country. When I was done, she asked me if I had been to Angola and if I know these things to be true. I said I hadn't. She then remarked that it was a pity we Africans only know about each other from what we are told. I grasped the gravity of the issue at hand: That what we hear and see about our trading partners are things that may be far from reality when we visit and trade together. The visit a fortnight ago by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a year after that of his predecessor, shows the increasing realisation by African leaders of the need for intra-Africa trade and investment. While Kenya is a member of the East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the Tripartite Free Trade Area, Nigeria is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). Both the Tripartite and Ecowas regional trading blocs constitute a market opportunity of about 950 million people out of Africa's population of 1.1 billion. Source: All Africa

The traders accuse the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of subjecting their goods to verification of cargo at the Container Freight Stations (CFS). They said this verification should be done at the port instead of transferring the burden to the CFS, such as Portside Container Terminal where KRA has ordered a 100 per cent physical inspection of all cargo. The traders say they do not understand why customs officials cannot inspect the goods inside the port using scanning machines. Yesterday, they said transferring inspection to CFS causes delays. Source: Standard Digital

ARUSHA, TANZANIA - Lead consultants on stronger East African integration, TradeMark Africa (TMA), are keen on continuing their support during the 2016-2022 period. “We are very keen on continuing supporting the Integration Agenda,” Frank Matsaert (pictured right), the TMA CEO told Amb. Richard Sezibera, the East African Community Secretary General in talks last week. He said: “With strong commitment and guidance from the Secretary General and his team, we will be able to carve out key priority activities to carry out in the next phase.” The meeting took place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha and was attended by Dr. Enos Bukuku, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, David Stanton, TMA Director General, and ministerial representatives from the five Partner States. Amb. Sezibera said, “I wish to express my gratitude to TMA for supporting the Integration Agenda.” “As we move more towards monetary and fiscal integration, we need to strengthen institutional capacities, nurture vibrant trade and enhance financial markets within the region,” he said. With funding from bilateral donors, especially from the European Union, TMA has been helping the EAC improve the quality of life of East Africans through competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments. TMA support, has improved the infrastructure at Mombasa Port; constructed road network between Ntungamo to Mirama Hill in Uganda and Port Reitz to Kipevu West in Kenya; improved on the customs clearance time along the borders and carried out several sensitization campaigns to small cross border traders on the opportunities...

Africa is set to become the second fastest growing continent by 2025, with GDP set to touch US$4.5 trillion Rapid urbanisation could lead to several Africans living and working in large cities. (Image source: PaulSaad/Flickr) A Frost and Sullivan report, in the form of a video titled Mega Trends in Africa, states that urbanisation, mobility, infrastructure, natural resources, telecom and inter-regional trade could make Africa the last growth frontier. According to the analysts at Frost & Sullivan, Africa is the only continent poised to achieve double-digit economic growth within the next decade and close to half the population will live in large cities. The report also said that 58 per cent of the working population will thrive in 2025 and will be mostly within the ages of 15-64. If this trend spills over into the next two decades, Africa could have a working population higher than India and China combined.Frost & Sullivan Africa operations director Hendrik Malan said, “The growth rates promised by Africa are second to that of Southeast Asia at the moment. The big advantage that Africa does have is the lack of infrastructure and the lack of legacy systems because our ability to leapfrog technologies and get access to that growth much sooner than Southeast Asia.” The analysis has also singled out certain sectors that are poised to register maximum growth and are already showing potential to ring in big numbers. Firms operating in the digital currency space, for one, are among the big gainers. By the...

Although there have challenges since the re-establishment of the EAC, there is no doubt that partner states have made considerable progress in their efforts to integrate. Integration has played a key role in growing East Africa (EA) as a region even more rapidly after the re-establishment of the East African Community (EAC). Such development in the region has been made possible through support from Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) which has particularly helped EAC reduce the transport transfer time of containers from Dar es Salaam-Mombasa port to Bujumbura, Kigali by 12%. To further discuss the way forward between the two organizations, EAC Secretary General, Amb Richard Sezibera, held discussions with TMA CEO, Mr Frank Matsaert to plan for TMA’s support for the next phase, 2016-2022. Noting the role played by TMA in developing the region, Dr Sezibera said in appreciation: “I wish to express my gratitude to TMA for supporting the Integration Agenda.” He added: “As we move more towards monetary and fiscal integration, we need to strengthen institutional capacities, nurture vibrant trade and enhance financial markets within the region.” With the aim of improving the quality of life of East Africans through competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments, the EAC, through TMA support, has improved the infrastructure at Mombasa Port; constructed road network between Ntungamo to Mirama Hill in Uganda and Port Reitz to Kipevu West in Kenya; improved on the customs clearance time along the borders and carried out several sensitization campaigns to small cross border traders...

Last December, amid two days of fanfare, a new long-haul 787 passenger route was launched from Durban, South Africa. The four-times-per-week service was hailed by local provincial officials as a triumph for the region and would begin “opening up new markets for our goods around the world,” as well as delivering tourists and tourist money, to the continent. And which carrier is now facilitating this foreign trade boom? Qatar Airways, based not in Africa, but in the Middle Eastern city of Doha. It says much about the state of the African airfreight industry that a new Doha-Durban route, with ample bellyfreight capacity, is owned by a foreign carrier – especially one from the Middle East. Qatar now has 21 flights a week to South Africa from its Doha hub. Nowthat’s an open market. For most of the last decade, the surge in cargo traffic that has made Africa one of the world’s fastest-growing airfreight markets has been dominated by carriers based in the Gulf Region, China and Europe. One of the few exceptions is Ethiopian Airlines, a rare African carrier that has a substantial cargo division modeled on the global airfreight networks of its foreign rivals. “Foreign carriers account for 85 percent of the traffic moved to and from the continent and have far significant advantages compared to African carriers,” said Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO of Kenyan all-cargo carrier Astral Aviation. The reason, Gadhia said, is a lack of liberalization in the aviation policies of most African nations. While foreign-operated international...

The African Union’s Commissioner for Trade and Industry Fatima Acyl has called for structural transformation to create jobs that will improve the wellbeing of the African people. Ms Acyl, who was speaking at a meeting in Addis last week, before the African Union summit, said the backbone of the AU’s industrial transformation plan is the African Mining Vision, and the creation of a Continental Free Trade Area. The mining vision, adopted by the Heads of State Summit in 2009, aims to make the mining sector more responsive to African economic and social development needs. “If you don’t transform, there will be a lot of importing of products that you have,’’ Ms Acyl said. She gave the example of her own country, Chad, which imports juices yet is a top grower of mangoes. The goal is to set up a free trade area by 2017. The AU has already approved the creation of an African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) to provide strategic operational and co-ordination support to member states. The goal of the AMDC is to address price volatility, and to ensure stable incomes to African producers. Ms Acyl noted that many of the AU’s 54 member countries have populations lower than 20 million and economies of less than $10 million. The national markets of such economies are therefore too small to justify heavy investments. The establishment of a continental Free Trade Area will create a single market for goods and services in Africa with a total population of over a...

The Rwandan business community has identified trade barriers that it wants East African governments to remove in order for the country’s goods and services to be more competitive in the region. Currently Rwanda Air — the country’s national carrier — is restricted from picking up passengers in Kenya and Tanzania even though, in principle, the EAC airspace has been liberalized. “There is no free competition in the airline business in the East African Community; it’s the East African people who suffer,” said John Mirenge, the chief executive of Rwanda Air, at a breakfast meeting for the private sector and the Ministry of East African Affairs in Kigali. The 11th Northern Corridor Summit agreed to give regional airlines, like RwandAir and Kenya Airways, the “fifth freedom” of operating without limitation on the corridor. Under the deal, RwandAir and Kenya Airways ply the Entebbe-Nairobi and Entebbe-Kigali routes as local airlines. But Mr Mirenge said the agreement is only on paper. The second barrier is the additional costs that Rwandan mineral exporters incur while in Tanzania. When security lapses in Tanzania led to a number of containers being stolen in the country, mineral exporters hired private security guards from Rusumo to work at the Dar es Salaam port, leading to an increased cost of doing business. Mineral exporters say insurance firms, transporters and shippers compel them to provide security for their minerals. The cost of transporting a container of minerals from Kigali to Dar has risen by 271 per cent, from $3,500 to...

The regional business community has criticised the EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade Bill 2015, saying it needs extensive changes in order to be effective. The East African Business Council (EABC) has pointed out that elimination of NTBs is strictly dependent on the political will of the concerned parties, with no consequence for non-elimination and no restitution for aggrieved parties. To address this, EABC trade economist Adrian Njau proposes that the NTBs Act be taken back to the East African Legislative Assembly for amendment. Mr Njau argues that the Bill should provide for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, arbitration by the trade remedies committee and the ability to petition the East African Court of Justice. The Bill insists merely restates the existing mechanisms to resolve disputes on non-tariff barriers in the region such as mutual agreement of the concerned partner states; implementation of the EAC time bound programme for elimination of identified NTBs; and regulations, directives, decisions or recommendations of the council as provided for under Article 9 on elimination of NTBs despite its failure to resolve disputes for several years now. However, the extension in 2015 of the jurisdiction of the EACJ, to cover issues related to trade and commerce, provides another opportunity for arbitration of NTBs in the region. “The EAC NTBs Bill, 2015, should be taken back to EALA for amendments,” EABC acting executive director, Lilian Awinja told The EastAfrican. Tanzania is said to have already assented to the Bill, meaning that it has formally committed itself to a binding legislation to eliminate NTBs...