New ambassadors of Russia, United Arab Emirates and Tanzania who presented their letters of credence to President Kagame have pledged to strengthen the existing bilateral relations between Rwanda and the respective countries they present. The new envoys who briefed the media in Kigali yesterday, shortly after presenting their credentials included Hazza Mohammed Farah Kharsan Alqahtane, Ambassador of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Karen Chalyan, Ambassador of Russia, and Ernest Jumbe Mangu the High Commissioner of Tanzania, all who are resident in Kigali. UAE’s envoy said that his country is determined to enhance the relationship between his country and Rwanda in all aspects. “My main mission is to do whatever I can to develop relations with the government and the people of Rwanda,” he said. He lauded Rwanda for being a safe country with zero tolerance to corruption and hinted that this profile could attract tourists from his country to come and visit. “We will promote tourism to Rwanda. We have tens of thousands who spend their vacations in Europe and since Rwanda is one of the safest countries, this can be an attraction to our citizens,” he said. Ambassador Chalyan equally said that Rwanda and Russia want to further develop the existing cordial relations especially in areas of education, defence, and political affairs among others. “I have a very clear mandate to be as active as I can possibly be,” he said. Tanzania’s new High Commissioner to Rwanda said that he intends to promote more trade and movement of people. “We...

Bukoba — THE East African Community member states are poised to ratify laws to control the importation of inferior pharmaceutical and food products, says the Director of Medicines and Complimentary Products under the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), Mr Adam Fimbo. " Tanzania was the first among EAC nations to have ratified the laws in controlling the safety, quality and effectiveness of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices," he disclosed. Other EAC nation will soon follow suit, he added. "Upon completion of this exercise we shall have uniform standards," he said. Mr Fimbo made the remarks recently during a meeting between TFDA officials and representatives of different media outlets from Kagera and Geita regions, as part of enlightening the people in the Lake Zone. He also revealed that TFDA had plans to install special mini-testing labs in all 32 entry points in seven zones to ensure consumers were safe and the market was free of inferior drugs, foods and diagnostics. Various strategies have been put in place that would maintain strict and timely testing of the products with state-of- the art laboratory stationed in Mwanza City as the headquarters in the Lake Zone area comprising six regions-Simiyu, Kagera, Mwanza, Geita, Shinyanga and Mara. He cited, for instance, that the Post Marketing Surveillance programmes (PMS), which between January and March this year, had handled 594 samples of human drugs it collected and tested and found that 96 per cent of them met the required standards. He urged the media to...

A new fund targeting women-led businesses in Africa will invest up to $500 million over the next decade to increase their participation in investment. The African Women’s Leadership Fund is a brainchild of the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (Uneca), UN Women, the African Union Commission and the African Women Leadership Network. Uneca executive secretary Vera Songwe said that the Fund’s sponsors hope to address a significant gender imbalance in finance and investment. “Women are less represented in many organisations and very few are leaders. This in turn makes them less represented in key decision-making for the continent,” said Ms Songwe. In Africa, only five per cent of chief executives are women; 18 per cent of businesses lack women in senior roles; only 29 per cent are senior managers while 44 per cent of women hold line roles, a 2016 report by Mackinsey & Company notes. The fund’s strategy is to ensure that at least 65 per cent of its investment capital reaches women entrepreneurs and women-led companies. The rest — 35 per cent — will go to technical assistance in the form of capacity building, leadership training, mentorship and business development. The fund hopes to find emerging women managers who will eventually serve as examples of the potential that they and their peers could have if given the support they need. The fund covers each of the continent’s five regions — North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa — and will evolve over time...

Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), farmers’ representatives and civil society organisations have called for adequate budget towards agriculture sector so as to reduce huge food imports incurred by East African countries. The call was made on Wednesday in Nairobi Kenya, during the opening of 3rd EAC agriculture Budget Summit. The summit is being held under the theme; “Promoting an Inclusive, People-Centred EAC Budget Process: Incentives for Prudent Public and Private Investment in Agriculture”. Speaking during the event, Mathias Kasamba, the chairperson of agriculture, tourism and natural resources committee at EALA said: “If we consider how much food EAC countries import and money spent on it, you will realise some of these countries are becoming net food importers. We need to improve quantity and quality of food in EAC countries. He said that in order for Africa to adequately feed its population for over 170 million population, there is need of quick implementation of commitments to agricultural transformation set up by African Union. According to Jean Baptiste Havugimana, the director of productive sectors at EAC secretariat the regional agricultural investment plan for 2017-2025, seeks to ensure the region feeds itself and even export. In order to achieve the plan, experts said, there is need of more efforts by member states to domesticate the Malabo declarations on agricultural transformation into national agricultural investments plans which fit into annual national budget. Malabo Declarations were adopted in June 2014 in Equatorial Guinee by the African Union Heads of State following the...

Government is considering revising the current law on plastic products with the goal of banning single-use plastic materials such as straws, disposable cutleries among others, Environment minister Dr Vincent Biruta has said. Speaking in Kigali at the launch the National Environment Week on Tuesday, Biruta said that since Rwanda prohibited the manufacture, importation, use and sale of polythene bags over a decade ago “remarkable” environmental benefits have been registered. However, he said, the continued use of some “avoidable plastic products” remains a threat to the fight against environmental degradation. “Today, the challenge we face is no longer polythene bags alone, but all plastics, especially those used once and thrown away. We are in the process of revising the plastics law to reduce single use plastics and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of plastic recycling in the country,” Biruta noted. A fortnight ago, the Ministry of Environment and its affiliated agencies announced that they will no longer be using disposable plastics, including the traditional single-use water bottles. The institutions have since installed water dispensers and replaced bottles with glasses and cups in offices and during meetings. A few other public institutions such as the Ministry of Justice have since joined this effort and taken the “Beat Plastic Pollution” pledge and Biruta hopes others will follow suit soon. To demonstrate how far the ministry will go to drive this campaign forward, there was not a single plastic bottle at the event to launch the Environment Week. According to the minister, this was...

Arusha — The East African Community (EAC) has denied it is negotiating with China on a free trade agreement (FTA) proposed by the Asian economic giant. "Currently, there is no EAC-China FTA and no negotiations have begun, in this regard," an EAC official told The Citizen on condition of anonymity since she was not authorised to speak to the media on policy matters. She said recent reports on purported discussions on free trade between the EAC and China were due to "miscommunication". The official nevertheless confirmed that China had proposed to negotiate with EAC partner states a comprehensive FTA in order to boost trade volumes between the two sides. China, currently the world's second biggest economy, had also requested for a joint feasibility study with the community on the proposed trade arrangement. "This matter was considered by the EAC Council of Ministers in early 2016," the official said. She noted, however, that in view of similar requests received from other countries such as Turkey and Singapore, the EAC secretariat decided to undertake a study on implications of such negotiations. The study will inform the Council of Ministers, which is the policy organ of the EAC, on the way forward and subsequent response to requests by China and other foreign countries. "In this regard, the secretariat communicated with the concerned parties that the EAC was to undertaking internal consultations on their proposals and would revert after consultations are finalised," the official said. In June, last year, the EAC secretariat approved a...

US President Donald Trump's "America First" stance on global trade has hit Rwanda, by imposing tariffs on clothing exports from the tiny East African nation. The issue revolves around an obscure import, second-hand clothes, and Rwanda's refusal to back down from the fight. When did the dispute start? In March 2018, the US gave Rwanda 60 days' notice that it would be suspending the landlocked country from selling clothes to America duty free - a status it enjoys under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Agoa is the flagship US trade legislation designed to boost trade and investment in qualifying African countries by granting duty-free access to 6,500 exported products. "The president's determinations underscore his commitment to enforcing our trade laws and ensuring fairness in our trade relationships," Deputy US Trade Representative CJ Mahoney said at the time. Those 60 days have now expired. Why did Rwanda ban the import of second-hand clothing? The idea is to protect its nascent garment and textile industry. Many African nations were once home to vibrant textile industries. But decades of mismanagement, instability, and increased global competition have taken a toll. This can be seen in Ghana, where a study found that market liberalisation the 1980s had led to a sharp drop in textile and clothing jobs - from 25,000 people in 1977 to just 5,000 in 2000. Kenya had half a million garment workers a couple of decades ago. Today that number is in the tens of thousands. Second-hand clothing is one...

The Government of Korea and the African Development Bank have issued a Joint Declaration following the conclusion of the Ministerial Roundtable of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Conference taking place during the African Development Bank’s 53rd Annual Meetings in which Korea announced a $5-billion bilateral financial assistance package for Africa. The Ministerial Roundtable is the signature event of the biennial KOAFEC Conference, gathering a peer group of African Ministers of Finance who also serve as the African Development Bank Board of Governors to discuss topical issues and a pan-African approach to engagement with Korea. Taking place under the theme “Africa and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Opportunities for leapfrogging?”, the Ministerial Conference highlighted the need for long-term planning for industrial development and execution of projects, as well as a focus on value addition in sectors where Africa has comparative advantage for example in agriculture and natural resources. There was also a need to further leverage technology such as the mobile phone for more inclusive growth, in favour of the youth. The $5-billion financial assistance package will be delivered over two years through partnerships with various development agencies, including but not limited to the African Development Bank Group. The package leverages resources from various Korean bilateral agencies and platforms, including the Knowledge Sharing Program, the Economic Development Cooperation Fund, Korea Import-Export Bank, among others. Specifically, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina and the Deputy Prime Minister of Korea, Dong Yeon Kim, signed three cooperation agreements for the implementation of certain components of...

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) seeks to integrate African economies and pull together a market with a consumer spending power of $1.4 trillion by 2020, and increase intra-African trade by $35 billion by 2022. While some countries may have issues with the AfCTA, most governments are behind it and momentum will continue to build to make it a reality. AfCTA is viewed as a game- changer that will allow the free movement of goods and services across the continent, allowing African businesses to tap deeper into the sizeable and growing markets. However, there are a few risks that ought to be managed going forward. The first has to do with the financing of infrastructure that will interconnect the continent. Africa has an annual infrastructure financing deficit of about $93 billion. An obvious next step will be the business of raising funds to build the infrastructure Africa needs because without it, AfCTA will remain a good idea with no lived benefits on the ground. Given concerns with rising debt levels of African countries, coupled with queries on the management of public funds, there is a risk that AfCTA can facilitate a debt binge to finance infrastructure in a context of poor institutional controls and capacity to ensure projects are efficiently financed and developed. African governments have to manage this by ensuring infrastructure plans are financed responsibly, that money reaches the projects and that they are completed in a timely manner. Without these controls, the sheer scale of financing that...

The East African Community is pushing for an amendment to the Customs Management Act to allow Customs officials to get advance information regarding goods being moved across national borders ahead of their arrival on carrier vessel. This would enable Customs officials to detect high-risk consignments and take appropriate action, and expedite clearance of legitimate cargo. Section 24(1)(a) of the East African Community Customs Management Act requires shipping lines to submit their vessel manifest at least 24 hours before their arrival at a port. Approval The Council of Ministers has approved the amendment for submission to the East African Legislative Assembly. It will then be forwarded to heads of state for approval and enforced by the Customs Directorate. It is expected that the law will curtail trade in illegal goods across partner states as authorities will have to co-operate and share information on money laundering, drug, arms and human trafficking, dealings in counterfeits and infringement of intellectual property rights. This will be the third time the Act is being amended since 2004, when East African Community Customs Management came into force. Source: The East African