Recent news reports indicate that trade among East African partner states is growing by leaps and bounds. This is a positive development that regional leaders should seek to build upon and encourage. Rwandan exports to other East African Community countries, for instance, grew significantly in the first half of this year despite a poor showing in global markets. Exports to the EAC amounted to $97.8 million in the first half of 2014, up from $70.7 million in the same period last year. This represented a 38.6 per cent increase. Imports to Rwanda from the regional bloc, on the other hand, increased by 3.7 per cent from $239 million to $247.8 million in the same period. Themain exports included tea, raw hides and skins of bovine, coffee, steel andiron rods, vegetables and malt beer. Major imports were cement, palm oil, fats and oils, fertilizers, second hand clothing and sugar. The growth of trade among East African countries comes against the backdrop of failed negotiations for a new Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. The contentious areas have been referred to the political leadership of the two blocs for possible resolution following failure to clinch agreement by the technical teams. Kenyan exporters, in particular, will be badly affected from October, when they will have to start paying taxes on goods entering the European Union if no agreement will have been reached. The other EAC partner states are fortunate to be covered under the Everything But Arms arrangement. One way for East...

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – The East African and Central members states have being agreed to work together through Public Private Partnership (PPP) to revamp the regional infrastructure system in harmonizing regional integration to foster social and economic development in the region. Speaking to invited delegates during the two days 5th East and Central Africa Roads and Rail Infrastructure Summit last week in Dar es Salaam, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Dr Shaaban Mwinjaka said member states are ready to work together in collaboration with private sector in improving infrastructure system in the region such as roads, railways and airports. “There are a lot of opportunities so let us work together and invest together to foster regional integration and improving infrastructure system that fuel economic developments,” he said. Dr Mwinjaka noted that the government of Tanzania through the ministry of Transport is currently working hard to ensure that the central railway line operates effectively by adapting Big Result Now (BRN) model in the government system. He further said that the government is constructing and rehabilitating the terminal three at Mwalimu Nyerere International airport in order to accommodate approximately 6 million passengers daily. Dr Mwinjaka noted that the ongoing central railway line projects in Tanzania are Dar-Isaka, Kigali-Keza and Musongati with a total investment of $4.891million. He said that the upgrading of the Tanga- Arusha and the new line of Arusha to Musoma it’s currently estimation investment shoot up to $2.019 million which is in line of the...

KIGALI, Rwanda - Last year half of Rwanda’s imports passed through the Central Corridor route using Dar es Salaam port. Alexis Nzahabwanimana, the State Minister in charge of Transport was recently addressing participants of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facility Agency (CCTTFA). “In 2013, about 50% of Rwanda’s imports went through the Central Corridor which underlines the importance of this corridor to Rwanda,” Nzahabwanimana said. He said the Central Corridor is very crucial for Rwanda’s international trade since it is shorter than the Northern option. At 1500 kilometres through the Rusumo border post, the Central Corridor is almost 200 kilometres shorter. He said, “Rwanda is fully committed to CCTTFA, because geographically the country is connected to the Indian Ocean by two major gateways which are the Northern Corridor that links it to Port Mombasa through Uganda and Kenya and the Central Corridor that links it to Port Dar es Saalam through Rusumo border post.” The Kigali meeting brought together transport ministers and related senior officials from the five countries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. CCTTFA was formed in September 2006 to cater for the logistical problems of landlockled countries. This was part of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/180 on particular needs of Landlocked developing countries from which other declarations and action programmes have evolved. Nzahabwimana thanked the Tanzania government building roads that connect Rwanda to Dar-es-salaam and the improvements made at the port. “This supports the flow of goods from Port Dar-es-salaam to...

African is a continent in conflict with itself, when our leaders talk about the diplomatic relations of our countries; we know there is more to what meets the ear. Amongst young Africans we hear loud shouts about Robert Sobukwe`s ideologies about pan Africanism but how willing are African to work together to create an Africa that is independent of foreign aid? African countries would rather export their oil, diamonds and maize to foreign countries rather than to other African countries. Africa can only be freed by the same strategy that has liberated us in the first place as Africans ‘unity’, working together to create a better Africa for all. Africa’s greatest asset is not its gold, it’s not its diamonds, but it is its youth working together beyond the limitation of borders and political dipomacy to create economic solutions that are viable for our people. The main factors that encroach on increasing intra-African trade include regional integration, economic diversification, conflict, infrastructure and border issues. The Motivation of Integration Although intra-African trade is not a panacea for development, it is quite important. It can help the continent’s small businesses to become more competitive by creating economies of large scale and weeding out big useless corporates that are less productive in the African marketplace. It can establish and strengthen product value chains and facilitate the transfer of technology and knowledge via spill-over effects. And it can incentivize and spur infrastructure development and attract foreign direct investment. For these reasons, expanding intra-African trade...

Nairobi — Rwanda is ranked first with a score of 3.52 in this year's East Africa Logistics Performance trade survey. The survey pities the East African Community member states against each other in a bid to establish deterrents of effective trade within the region. The 2014 Logistics Performance Survey (LPS), annual report published by the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa (SCEA), shows Uganda and Tanzania take the second and third positions with aggregated scores of 3.07 and 2.89, respectively. Kenya is placed number four with a score of 2.82 and Burundi is at position five, with an aggregated score of 2.78. The report, which was officially launched in Nairobi, showed despite recent increases in investment on infrastructure there are other factors inhibiting the efficiency of trade. One such obstacle is the efficiency of goods clearance process where ranked highest with a 3.13 score while Kenya and Rwanda come in second with a tie score of 3. Kenya fairs poorly in the manner in which trade disputes are handled and on incidences of corruption and rent seeking. Factors that were used to rate countries for their efficiency included: Timely delivery of shipments, competence and quality of logistics services, percentage of shipment that is physically inspected and fairness and transparency in customs valuations. Speaking during the launch of the survey, Kenyan Transport Permanent Secretary Nduva Muli said despite commitment by governments to improving infrastructure, there is still need for more cooperation from all industry players. Improving trade logistics through deepened trade facilitation...

Rail freight tariffs in the East African Community are higher than in any other region of the world, a new survey shows. The 2014 East Africa Logistics Performance Survey notes that this is due to the lack of effective concession agreements as well as the inability by operators to invest in improving efficiency. “A well developed railway system would be the best solution to reducing transport costs,” said Gilbert Langat, the chief executive of the Shippers Council of East Africa. “The region must, therefore, establish clear guidelines to support logistics management for operators and intermediaries.” He said that governments need to invest in transport infrastructure, which will in turn boost international trade. He urged EAC member states to eliminate delays while goods are in transit in order to boost the bloc’s ability to compete effectively in the global economy. Humphrey Kisembe, an economist who was part of the study, said that one of the biggest challenges affecting the freight industry is the lack of transparent charges. “The imposition of surcharges has affected the competitiveness of the sector,” said Mr Kisembe said, adding that the lack of access to credit had contributed to the underdevelopment of small and medium size enterprises as providers of logistics services. Mr Kisembe said the average truck in the EAC covers 5,000-7,500km per month compared with the international average of 12,000 km. “This shows that transport corridors have inefficiencies such as delays at Customs and weighbridges,” he said. Kenya’s Transport Principal Secretary Nduva Muli said laws...

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Phyllis Kandie said Friday the meeting to be held in Nairobi would help resolve contentious issues blocking the signing of the agreement. "Some of the pending issues are at ministerial level and we are working with our partners in the East African Community (EAC) to have the agreement signed in time," she told journalists in Naivasha. The EPAs launched in Brussels in 2002 are aimed at enhancing sustainable growth, increasing production and supply capacities of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) countries, promoting structural processing and economic diversification of the ACP states while supporting regional integration. Experts say Kenya stands to benefit from foreign exchange earnings, employment opportunities and penetration to the European Union market with EPAs. The country has enjoyed preferential access to the EU market for the last 38 years through four successive Lome Conventions signed between 1975 to 2000. The intention is to reciprocate the trading terms that the ACP countries have been enjoying since 1959. But the negotiations have faced stiff competition from the civil society and ACP’s trade experts because of the risk they pose to local enterprises. As of 2013, the EU accounted for 17.2 per cent of Kenya overall trade. EU is currently the second largest export market for Kenya as it absorbs close to 25 percent exports and 14 per cent of imports. Kandie identified three contentious areas which various parties had failed to agree on leading to anxiety mainly...

Rwandan exports to the East African Community (EAC) countries significantly grew in the first half of this year despite a poor showing in the global markets. The Governor of National Bank of Rwanda, John Rwangombwa, revealed this while presenting the biannual monetary policy and financial stability statement today. Exports to the EAC amounted to $97.8 million (Rwf66.7 billion) in the first half of 2014, up from $70.7 million (Rwf48.2 billion) in the same period last year. This was a 38.6 per cent increase. Imports from the regional bloc increased 3.7 per cent, from $239 million to $247.8 million in the same period. The main exports included tea, raw hides and skins of bovine, coffee, steel and iron rods, vegetables and malt beer. Major imports were cement, palm oil, fats and oils, fertilizers, second hand clothing and and sugar. "The National Bank of Rwanda narrowed the trade deficit with EAC countries to $150 million from $168.5 million," Rwangombwa said. "The export sector didn't perform as expected in the first half of this year as a result of falling commodity prices. The economy is recovering from the slowdown of 4.7 percent registered in 2013. It is evolving towards achieving, or even surpassing the projected growth rate of 6 percent by the end of 2014." He said that regarding Rwanda's external performance in the first half of 2014, the trade deficit continued to widen due to increased imports without corresponding exports to cushion the balance. "The cover rate of imports by exports slightly...

According to the 2014 East Africa Logistics Performance Survey, the main reason is due to lack of effective concession agreements as well as inability by operators to invest to improve efficiency. "However, a well developed railway system should be the best solution to reduce transportation costs," Shippers Council of East Africa (SCEA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gilbert Langat said. "The region therefore needs to establish clear guidelines to support logistics management for operators and intermediaries," Langat said. He said governments need to invest in transport infrastructure to effectively promote international trade, adding that cross border projects will reduce transport costs especially for the landlocked countries. He urged the trading bloc to eliminate the cases of delay so as to improve the ability of the EAC to compete effectively in the global economy. SCEA Economists Humphrey Kisembe said one of the biggest challenges for air freight industry is the lack of transparent air freight charges. "The imposition of surcharges has affected the competitiveness of the sector," Kisembe said. He said lack of access to credit has contributed to the underdevelopment of small and medium size enterprises as providers of logistics services. According to the economist, the average truck in the EAC only covers 5,000-7,500 kilometers per month compared to the international average of 12,000 km. "This indicates that transport corridors have inefficiencies such as delays at customs and weight bridges," Kisembe said. Kenya’s Transport Principal Secretary Nduva Muli said laws governing the railway business are currently been reviewed so as to...

Exports to the East African Community (EAC) countries significantly grew in the first half of the year despite poor performance in the world market, the central bank has said. In the latest Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement, released yesterday in Kigali, the National Bank of Rwanda said exports to the EAC amounted to $97.8 million (about Rwf67 billion) in the first half of the year, a significant increase from $70.7 million (about Rwf48 billion) in the same period last year. This represents a 38.6 per cent increase. Tea, hides and skins, coffee, iron bars and rods, vegetables and malt beer accounted for the bulk of Rwanda's exports to the region. At the same time, Rwanda's imports from the region increased by 3.7 per cent to $247.8 million from $239 million-a development that John Rwangombwa, the central bank governor, said had narrowed the country's trade deficit with EAC partner states to $150 million from $168.5 million. Major imports from the region include cement, palm oil, fats and oils, fertilisers, second hand clothing and other articles and sugar. Generally, the export sector did not perform as expected due to falling international commodity prices and inadequate rainfall in the fourth quarter of last year that hampered coffee exports. "Our exports in the last three years have been growing by around 20 per cent, but have declined by 1.8 per cent in volume and increased by 1.2 per cent in value in the first half of this year," Rwagombwa said. This, he added,...