Geneva – July 1st, 2015 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and TradeMark Africa have signed an MOU which is aimed at boosting trade in East Africa through collaboration on Trade and Gender, Trade Facilitation, including Customs automation and trade portals and improving port infrastructure. [caption id="attachment_8117" align="alignleft" width="600"] From Left to Right, TMA CEO Frank Matsaert and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General, Joakim Reiter, exchanging MOU documents in Geneva.From Left to Right, TMA CEO Frank Matsaert and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General, Joakim Reiter, exchanging MOU documents in Geneva.[/caption] Speaking during the contribution agreement signing ceremony in Geneva, the Deputy Secretary General for UNCTAD Joakim Reiter said: “UNCTAD is excited about this new partnership with TradeMark Africa. This partnership reinforces UNCTAD capacity to assist East Africa in the implementation of trade enhancing reforms”. Speaking at the signing ceremony, TradeMark CEO Frank Matsaert noted that trade infrastructure is critical to East Africa’s prosperity, and in creating the much needed jobs in the region. Currently East Africa’s trade corridors are characterised by long transit times and high costs. Freight costs per kilometre are more than 50% higher than costs in the United States and Europe, and for the landlocked countries, transport costs can be as high as 45% of the value of exports. “We are delighted to enter into a MoU with UNCTAD which provides a platform for cooperation between our two organisations. This will help us work together with our partners in the EAC in a more coordinated way...

Africa’s high growth in the past decade has created only a few jobs and the continent’s share of exports in international trade has reduced from 5.9 per cent in 1980 to 3.3 per cent in 2013, the 2015 Economic Report on Africa (ERA) says. The report, launched in Kigali, yesterday, says employment in Africa grew at an annual average of 2.9 per cent from 1991 to 2012, and although comparatively higher than other regions such as Latin America, it’s not enough considering that Africa also has the highest population growth rates in the world. On one hand, Africa is being praised for its strong growth but on the other, population growth rates on the continent are faster than the growth rate and not creating enough jobs for young people joining the labour market every year. The 180-page report, which is a flagship product of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), calls on African governments to make a bigger push for industrialisation through effective trade policies and fast-tracking regional integration to widen market bases. Africa’s industrialisation, the report authors noted, should also take advantage of the continent’s abundant and diverse resources, including agricultural and mineral resources. “Countries should shape their national trade policies and activities in bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations across the length and breadth of the continent to consistently give priority to industrialization,” said Antonio Pedro, UNECA’s director for the eastern region. The report singles out commodity-based industrialisation as Africa’s best comparative advantage and calls on...

In unity lies strength, so goes the popular adage. It is in respect of this that a 27 member trade delegation from Kenya recently visited Ghana to explore investment opportunities in the field of agriculture. It was basically to woo investors to each other’s country in the area of agricultural development taking into consideration the competitive advantage of both countries. The broad objective focused on promoting and deepening economic ties. This relationship is a reflection of the general inter-African trade among African states which according to statistics is about 12 per cent of total world trade. It was therefore heartwarming when the leader of the Kenya trade delegation and Cabinet Secretary, Adam Mohammed called for intensive collaboration among African states to enhance the economic development of the continent. The memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries stressed the need to promote cooperation in Agriculture development. This obviously, is one of the pragmatic ways of boosting South-South cooperation in general and inter African trade in particular. It is not surprising that African countries in recent times are increasingly taking advantage of the favourable economic opportunities and good governance to step up investment especially in Agri business. The fact is Agriculture remains the backbone of the economies of most African countries including Ghana and Kenya. Therefore it has become important for cross fertilization of ideas among African States to share experiences on advancing businesses related to agriculture. As has always been stated, the catalyst for Africa’s growth and development is through...

Over the past 25 years, an astounding one billion people have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty, reducing by more than half the number of those living in such deplorable conditions. This is great work but we can do even better. In the next 15 years, we believe that international trade, which has boosted economic growth and improved access to new technologies and innovations, has played a significant role in reducing extreme poverty in the past, and it can do so in the future. But while trade can lift economic growth, the poor do not automatically benefit from new trade opportunities. Many people simply face too many obstacles to benefit from increased trade. Gender inequalities mean that women face a range of constraints that limit their ability to participate in trade. The rural poor are often isolated from markets and lack access to technologies like modern seeds and fertilisers that could boost their incomes. In times of economic downturns, workers in the informal sector often fall into poverty without any type of social safety net. And more than 40% of the extreme poor live in fragile and conflict-affected areas, creating a major hurdle for the poor to reap the gains from trade. But the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation – the world’s largest multilateral development and trade organisations – believe a series of policies can help countries deliver the benefits of trade to all their citizens, including the poorest. Our latest joint report The Role of Trade in...

Kenya’s economy has made remarkable gains over the past five years, maintaining a robust growth rate. The GDP growth stood at 5.4 per cent in 2014, an improvement on the 5.1 per cent recorded in 2013 and 4.6 per cent in 2012. The outlook is equally robust, with growth projected to reach 7.0 per cent by 2017 for an average of 6.7 per cent between 2014 and 2017). Kenya’s GDP now stands at $55 billion following last September’s rebasing making it the ninth largest in Africa and the fifth largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is global recognition of positive economic and other reforms that should yield a positive growth outlook. US-based Bloomberg has recently ranked Kenya as the third fastest growing economy in a global survey of 57 economies projected to register rapid growth this year. This places the country alongside China, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia as the only economies expected to register a five per cent growth rate this year. Besides, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its World Investment Report 2014, says Kenya is developing as the favoured business hub in the Eastern and Central African region — another plus for the economy. Oil and gas exploration, manufacturing and transport are projected to be the leading investment attractions in the country in the medium and long term. Fortune magazine rates Kenya as one of the seven top investment destinations to watch in the emerging markets, ahead of continental giants Nigeria and South Africa....

KAMPALA, Uganda - Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), the region’s trade development agency and consultant, has received the world’s most prestigious corporate procurement certification. “This award serves as further proof of TMA adhering to the highest international standards in procurement, maintaining the principles of probity, transparency, consistency and fairness as a benchmark of good management,” Frank Matsaert, the TMA Chief Executive Officer said last week. The award makes TMA the second organization in Africa, after the Africa Development Bank, to receive the certification, and the first in East Africa. Based in the UK, the widely respected Charted Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), is a global professional body that carries out certification. This comes after a detailed evaluation of the organization’s procurement structures and practices. According to a CIPS statement, ‘They (TMA) were also able to offer evidence as strict adherence to their prevention of bribery and corruption policies as they continue to work hard to maintain these high standards.’ Source: East African Business Week

Arusha — South Sudan, the newest but troubled African State which had also applied to join the Arusha-pivoted, East African Community has announced that, the country will need five more years to sensitize its citizens before becoming the sixth member of the EAC. Official reports from the East African Community Secretariat in Arusha are to the effect that South Sudan's council of ministers approved the country's bid to join the EAC, but insisted its government needed five years to sensitise citizens on the benefits and risks of becoming a member. The council, recently chaired by President Salva Kiir, reportedly listened to a memo presented by the presidential advisor and economic affairs, Mr Aggrey Tisa Sabuni that the government must prepare its people on the risks of joining the community as well informing them on the benefits that the citizens of South Sudan are going to gain, as far as the Deputy Information Minister, Racheal Nyadak, is concerned. Meanwhile, the Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania also accredited to the EAC bloc, Ms Hanne-Marie Kaarstad, has paid a courtesy call on Dr Richard Sezibera, the Secretary General of the East African Community. The Secretary General and his guest discussed a wide range of issues geared towards deepening cooperation between Norway and the East African Community. Ms Hanne-Marie Kaarstad also briefed the Secretary General about the pending visit by the Royal Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Monica Meland to the EAC Headquarters in September 2015. Later, Dr Richard Sezibera and Ambassador...

The East Africa Community (EAC) partner states have imposed Common External Tariff to help traders and farmers in the community to benefit from what they grow and protect rice smuggling that destroy small scale farmers engaged in paddy production in the region. A report from Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT) issued by the Rice Council Executive Director, Winnie Bashagi say that the EAC has decided to imposed the common external tariffs after it identified that right now Tanzania and other EAC rice industry is under the threat of imported rice from Thailand and Pakistan. She said across Tanzania, and the rice value chain, farmers, millers and traders are bitter about the high volumes of cheap Asian rice that somehow makes its way into the country and region duty free. In a national market assessment in March and April, the Rice Council found Chapa Africa Thai rice and Kasuku Pakistan rice in every region visited. “If you look at the wholesale price and what it should cost to import with the EAC rice tariff paid,” says Winnie Bashagi, “it is clear that the tariff was not paid. If the tariff had been paid, the importers would be losing on every kilogramme they sold,” she said. Also in late 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture declared Tanzania to have produced a 700,000-tonne rice surplus. This surplus was trapped in the country as, in June 2013, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda imposed the Common External Tariff of the East African Community on all Tanzanians in...

Following the departure of Ms. Waturi Wa Matu, who served as Coordinator for the East Africa Tourism Platform (EATP) since the launch of the regional tourism apex body three years ago, the organization has been seeking to fill the position with an equally competent individual from across the member states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. In a breaking news development, it was confirmed that Ms. Carmen Nibigira, former Director General of the Burundi National Tourism Office and presently a Ph.D. Candidate at Clemson University in South Carolina, was selected unanimously and will upon completion of her studies take over the vacant position in Nairobi. Carmen took Burundi’s national tourism office from a previously hibernating state into the spotlight among the East African tourism boards, winning ITB’s Best African Exhibitor Award among many other accomplishments during her one year term of office, before she had to return to the United States to complete her Ph.D. studies. Carmen earned the respect and admiration among East Africa’s tourism fraternity, and no doubt her appointment will be warmly welcomed across the region. Gifted with both academic credentials as well as skills in diplomacy, besides her extensive network in Eastern Africa and beyond, Carmen is thought to be the perfect choice to take over from Waturi and take EATP to the next level, as East Africa’s tourism sector needs to unite to succeed against sharp competition from Southern Africa’s safari destinations. Said Carmen in a brief statement sent out earlier on to this...

Egypt’s exports to international blocs have declined by 3.5% between 2013 and 2014, sliding from EGP 197.2bn to EGP 190.4bn. Imports, on the other hand, climbed by 14% during the same period, from EGP 196.5bn to EGP 223.9bn. This brings the trade balance to EGP 33.5bn in favour of international blocs. The international trade blocs included the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the United Nations of Economic and Social Commission (ESCWA), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Group of 15 (G-15), Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) as well as the Group of Eight Developing Islamic Countries (D-8). Exports to GAFTA inched up by EGP 67.1bn in 2014, increasing by 2.3% compared to the EGP 65.6bn recorded in 2013. Another increase was noted in the export to ESCWA, which climbed from EGP 51.5bn to EGP 52.8bn, registering a 2.5% surge. A deterioration was noticed in the Egyptian exports to the D-8, which dropped by EGP 2.4bn, almost 15%, between 2013 and 2014. Imports from GAFTA climbed up by 19%, from EGP 60.2bn to EGP 72bn, while imports from CEN-SAD decreased by 21%, from EGP 5.4bn to EGP 4.5bn. Exports with international blocs that don’t include Egypt declined by 2.4%, inching down to EGP 70.9bn in 2014 compared to EGP 72.6bn in 2013. Between 7 and 10 June, Egypt held a conference with several African blocs to activate the tripartite agreement. The African blocs included the COMESA, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).COMESA’s...