Enterprises working in the honey, mango and spice sectors in Eastern Africa are set to expand and become more competitive through a new project that targets sector-led growth in the region. The 'Promoting Intraregional Trade in Eastern Africa' project, implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and funded by the Government of Finland, focuses on increasing exports from Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Representatives of the three countries as well as ITC and the Finnish Foreign Ministry- who together make up the project steering committee - met in Helsinki on 30 January to discuss progress over the past year as well as work planned for 2015. Tracking business impact In Kenya, ITC has partnered with Bosch, a German engineering and electronics firm, to train three Kenyan small and medium-sized enterprises operating in food processing and distribution in applying so-called 'L ean Methodology' to their production and delivery processes, through interactive workshops and factory visits. By stripping out unnecessary or inefficient practices in the production process, the methodology reduces costs and increases productivity. All three enterprises reported significant improvements in their operational efficiencies, leading to greater competitiveness and profitability. In the United Republic of Tanzania, trade support institutions (TSIs) in the honey and mango sectors have strengthened regional cooperation. The Tanzanian Association of Mango Growers visited Mali to learn about best practices and supply chain solutions for exporting to international markets. Honey producers grew their business networks by participating in the honey exposition ApiExpo in Harare: as a...

Key private sector platforms, thought to include the East African Business Council, the East African Tourism Platform, and national manufacturers’ associations are thought to be the target for an official invitation to become part of the Northern Corridor Integration Summits, effective from the March meeting planned for Kigali. While key private sector players have in the past been at the venues and interacted with the various meetings of panel of experts, they were hitherto unable to fully participate in the ministerial meetings, where the final agenda for the Head of State Summits was put together. A usually reliable source indicated that the next summit will commence in Kigali on March 4 with the respective expert groups meeting, before the ministerial takes place on March 6 and the four Heads of State meeting on March 7 at the Kigali Serena Conference Centre. In the same communication, it was confirmed that South Sudan’s telecommunications companies will by then be expected to have joined the "one network area," removing roaming charges and treating calls into the other countries as domestic calls, something the three - Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya - have already achieved. Further information was, however, not forthcoming, if for instance South Sudan will join the common tourist visa arrangements – not that under the present circumstances many if any tourists actually dare to visit that country – or if the travel rules, using ID cards for citizens when crossing the respective borders, can be made effective, considering that South Sudan does...

For the first time, the 2015 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference will be held in Africa, specifically in Kenya. WTO director general Roberto Azevêdo has in the past said the WTO has helped to boost trade growth, resolve trade disputes and support developing countries to integrate into the trading system. But most African countries ask if the multilateral trade negotiations have had any impact on African initiatives. Why are trade reforms at the WTO not changing their prospects for the better? Why has trade boosted growth in other developing countries but only minimal gains in the continent despite its resource endowment? African countries face supply side constraints that need to be addressed, although trade reforms discussed at the WTO meet tend not to be implemented. The WTO negotiations are usually complex and unfortunately due to chronic brain drain, most African trade experts work for international organisations and universities abroad. Therefore they have little influence on the multilateral trading system. Furthermore, agriculture has been adversely affected through schemes of domestic support programmes, export subsidies and export competition propelled by the developed countries in support of their agriculture sectors. How can African countries succeed in trade negotiations reforms by asking for a level playing field? What will be the implication for the developed world ceding to Africa’s ambitions? How will trade talk supersede the agenda of security and terrorism in most African legislative assemblies? One of the contentious issues in the multilateral talks is market access for both agricultural and non-agricultural...

Players in the logistics industry are reaping the benefits of recently introduced cost and time saving technologies. Mandatory technologies like the Single Window System (SWS) and Electronic Cargo Tracking Systems (ECTS) are helping firms to cut transportation costs and increase speed of cross-border transactions. The SWS which allows submission, receipting and processing of cargo documents electronically at a single entry point was introduced by the Kenya Trade Networks Agency to speed up import and export trade. It was launched in May last year by three East African Presidents. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) had on the other hand introduced the ECTS in 2013 to track transiting cargo, getting minute by minute reports. “The SWS has radically changed how we do business. It has eliminated the multiple agents in the clearance process, particularly for transit cargo,” said Mr Job Kemboi, Transport Manager at Siginon Global Logistics. Siginon Global Logistics and Bollore Africa Logistics are some of the international firms that had already embraced varied technologies before the State issued the new directive. Their executives said the introduction of the mandatory requirement across most of East Africa have reduced their costs by as much as Sh72,000 per trip. “The Single Window System has shortened the time that traders and agents take to get clearance from 24 State agencies,” said Bollore Logistics regional chief executive Jason Reynard. “Additionally, it has successfully tackled dumping that was a problem faced by both authorities and importers. This has obviously reduced delays in transit because there is...

The East African Community is looking to expand the European market for its horticultural products through a new trade partnership with Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland. The four countries, which are not members of the European Union, will start comprehensive free trade agreement negotiations with the EAC partners under the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) umbrella. The EAC and EFTA secretariats have already drafted a trade declaration in order to kick-start the negotiation process. It is expected that the negotiations will be finalised by the two parties within five years before 2021, when Kenya raises its status to a middle-income country. According to Norway’s Ambassador to Kenya Victor Ronneberg, the main thing the EFTA countries are interested in is the agricultural sector. The EAC partner states export horticultural and other products to the EU duty-free but pay duty when exporting similar goods to EFTA countries. Mr Ronneberg said the EAC countries will also benefit from the advanced technology used in the oil industry in Norway, which is among the largest oil-producing countries in the world. The country is also rich in fish produce and although some of the salmon found in East Africa is imported from Norway, it is in small quantities and a trade agreement will boost imports. “Both parties (EAC and EFTA) will negotiate a trade deal along the lines of the Economic Partnership Agreement signed between the EU and the EAC,” said Mr Ronneberg, adding that this will enable them to negotiate faster as they will use...

African countries are working towards a common position on outstanding trade issues ahead of the 10th World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting to be held in Kenya later in the year. The initiative, aimed at ensuring African countries get a better deal at WTO negotiations, is being spearheaded by Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Senegal. At a recent meeting in Cairo, trade ministers from the four countries committed to the development of a work programme by mid-year that would help consolidate the outstanding issues on the Bali agenda. Trade negotiations at the WTO have moved at a snail’s pace, following disagreements and hardening of positions by member countries on various issues ranging from subsidies, preferential treatment and tariff and non-tariff barriers. Some of the outstanding issues the ministers are planning to zero in on are those relating to agriculture and development and the cotton trade, viewed as critical to least developed countries. However, the African ministers said all other issues of concern by other countries also need to be part of the discussions in the December meeting, according to a statement from the World Trade Organisation. “Ministers called upon all members to show the necessary political commitment to ensure positive and substantive results, including on issues of interest to Africa. Development, after all, remains the key driving force behind the Doha negotiations,” the statement added. The ministers agreed the Doha Development Agenda remained a critical element in the work of the WTO, adding that multilateral trading system remained an engine for...

In 2009, the government issued the first electronic driving licences, replacing the old permits that were printed on paper. However, the permits, which were generated using bio-data from the National Identification Agency (Nida) database, had one problem: they are only valid for five years, after which the bearers have to renew them. The permits expired last year and government, through the Ministry of Infrastructure's transport docket, issued a Ministerial Order extending the validity of the licences. The ministerial instruction is dated February 1, 2014. This was good news for the bearers, or at least those that drive within the country. Not so for those that have to use them out of the country, however, especially long distance truck drivers. Mathias Munyakayanza, a truck driver who ferries goods from the Port of Mombasa in Kenya to Kigali, the route referred to as the Northern Corridor, has had a couple of run-ins with highway police, especially while driving through Kenya. He said despite having his permit and the ministerial instruction attached to it, police once stopped him, saying they did not recognise the document. "Some time last year, I was detained for four hours and had to pay a fine of Ksh1,000 (about Rwf8,000) in fine," he said. Another time, last year, he was made to pay a fine of Ksh2,000 because of the same issue. Besides having to part with money, one is delayed for hours, which affects the delivery of cargo. The instructions are written in Kinyarwanda, English and French....

Waturi Wa Matu, the Coordinator of the East African Tourism Platform, the region’s private sector body connected to the East African Community, has given the thumbs up from Juba, where the latest meeting of the Northern Corridor Integration Project took place over the past two days. There were a number of controversial issues which had made their way on to the agenda, prompting finger pointing and cross-table accusations over delays, obstacles, and obstructions. Waturi then aptly posted on her Facebook page: “Partner States carpeting each other on failure to deliver on Heads of State directives...” There was, however, progress, and upon repeated questions and answers going back and forth between Kampala and Juba, it emerged that the visa-free travel for duly registered expatriates holding work permits, or residents holding residency permits, will after all become effective on February 15, two months after it was supposed to come into effect. Said Waturi in her last communication before heading for the formal dinner hosted by the government of South Sudan for the delegates: “Just go with this - foreign residents visa fees to KE, RW, and UG waived for foreign residents from these partner states. They will receive interstate passes at [the] departure airport upon presentation of [a] valid permit. Kenya to implement by 15th Feb...” It should be pointed out, however, that this arrangement only applies at present to Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya - countries which have subscribed to the common tourist visa and implemented travel arrangements for citizens of the...

While other partner states already use the ID and the single tourist visa for travelling within the EAC, the Ministry in charge of EAC affairs confirms that the reliability of the Burundi ID will determine whether Burundi will join or not. "The Burundi ID is still unreliable, which is why we couldn't join other countries by using the single tourist visa or ID to travel to those countries. We can find one person in possession of two IDs within different birth areas," declares Léontine Nzeyimana, the Minister in charge of East African Community (EAC) Affairs. She indicates that the process of identifying and computerizing citizens is ongoing. "The Ministry of Home Affairs started to register urban citizens for getting electronic ID last year," adds the Minister. This was said Friday on 30th January when the Minister in charge of EAC affairs reported all activities run in 2014. "Among the major activities, there is the launch of the single customs territory, the OBR agents are now present at the port in Dar es Salaam together with other EAC customs agents to facilitate trade and transport in the community. This has contributed much in reducing time and money spent on transport. Now, trucks spend 8 days on the road instead of 21" explains Nzeyimana. Since the single customs territory is operational, clearing processes are established in the country of destination while the goods are still at the first entrance point in the EAC. When all the formalities are finished, there won't be...

SUCCESSFUL implementation of road projects in the East African region requires firm country commitment and prioritisation, the alignment of national and regional objectives and sufficient engagement and consultation with stakeholders. According to the Director of Infrastructure at the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat Philip Wambugu it was also important to harmonise design, construction and operational standards in the region. This is in addition to having clearly defined and coordinated roles, he said, of national and regional institutions at both implementation and operational stages. The EAC senior official said this in his keynote address to the first Africa Bitumen/Asphalt Forum 2015 in Nairobi over the weekend. The two-day forum brought together more than 120 participants from 25 countries. They are drawn from the various areas of refining, trading, shipping and consulting. The theme of the conference is, "New Frontiers in Global Bitumen Market." Road projects, Wambugu said, are hampered by challenges of insufficient resources; inadequate frameworks in terms of legislation and strong capital markets for mobilisation of funds; slow harmonisation of policies and their implementation at national levels; low levels of voluntary compliance; and insufficient automation. "One of the critical problems that the trucking industry has been having is the lack of return cargo. A truck travelling from Mombasa or Dar es Salaam drops goods in Kigali or Bujumbura but is not allowed to pick return cargo, meaning that you pay for both ways as the transporter," said Wambugu. Officiating at the opening of the meeting Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Transport...