Ugandan goods just got a whole new playground on the European market after the East African Community and the European Union ended negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) after more than a decade of talks. Kristian Schmidt, the head of delegation of the Europe Union in Uganda, says EPA is about to enter into force and that, when it does, the conditions to trade and invest will be easier for the countries in the EAC region and those in the EU. “The trade negotiators have done their duty. The European markets are open to East Africa business community,” he said recently. “Exports originating from Uganda and the entire EAC will enter the market of all EU member states without paying customs duties and without limitation in quantities, for an indefinite time.” Schmidt was addressing a press conference organized by the European Business Forum (EBF), which was intended to announce the forthcoming European Business Expo and Food festival to be held in Kampala starting today, May 6. Schmidt added: “So, this leaves the door open for any company operating in Uganda to export freely; no customs duty to an integrated, single market of 28 European countries, with 508 million consumers with considerable purchasing power.” According to Schmidt, Uganda and EAC partner states have committed to partially and gradually reduce, and eliminate, customs duties on selected imports originating from the EU. “That means EAC operators can import from Europe more strategically. They will be allowed to buy duty-free, thereby at a...

South Sudan has been admitted into the Common Market for Eastern and South Africa (Comesa) member states just few days after the country was also admitted into the East African Community (EAC). Comesa Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya said South Sudan pushed to join the Comesa Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) carnet scheme. “We are pleased to announce that following the Comesa’s engagement at the highest level, the government of South Sudan has joined the RCTG Scheme,” Ngwenya said at a signing ceremony in Mombasa on Thursday. The Comesa RCTG carnet scheme is a custom transit regime designed to facilitate movement of goods under the customs seals in the Comesa region to provide the required customs security and guarantee to the transit countries. Ngwenya said the RCTG carnet scheme has recorded encouraging achievement since commencement of operations in 2012 and member states and stakeholders participating in the scheme are deriving benefits from savings in the cost of cargo transport. South Sudan wrote to Comesa on April 22, designating Speed Insurance Company as its National Surety and signed an Inter-Surety Agreement. “On the behalf of Comesa and on my own behalf, I would like to welcome South Sudan to the RCTG Scheme,” said the Comesa top official. South Sudan Director General for External Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Stephen Matatia said they are happy that they are now part of the Comesa economic regional block. “We are glad that today we have made it to Comesa RCTG Scheme,” said Matatia. Comesa...

Kampala — Tanzanian High Commissioner Ladislaus Komba has launched the registration of participants in the Afrika Mashariki Fest (AMF) half marathon, which will take place on May 29. The run will start and end at Kololo Independence Grounds. While addressing the press after the launch on Sunday at Nakumatt Acacia Mall in Kololo, Kampala, Dr Komba, who signed up for the 10km run, said the launch was meant to inaugurate the half marathon for the Afrika Masariki Fest initiated by the youth to promote the East African Community (EAC) integration. "The aim is to promote awareness, understanding and support our leaders in the integration process and to me, any process that is aimed towards the integration of our countries is welcome and I am proud to be part of it," he said. Dr Komba further said the Afrika Mashariki Fest (AMF) initiative is also intended to promote youth development and job opportunities and will also focus on protection and conservation of Lake Victoria, the region's largest water body. The AMF chief executive, Mr Kisembo Ronex Tendo, while addressing the press at the launch, said the event is a non-partisan voluntary youth platform that seeks to promote the regional integration of the six EAC member states. "We, therefore, seek to engage them across the region to embrace the EAC integration process through art, sports and civil society advocacy as our platforms," he said. Key athletes invited He said the run is expected to involve elite athletes with 10 from Addis Ababa,...

Arusha — East African Community (EAC) is facing a precarious financial situation and the new secretary general, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, has put workers at the headquarters on notice, telling them to get ready for drastic changes. Speaking at a welcoming party organised at an Arusha hotel last week, Mr Mfumukeko said owing to the alarming financial state the regional body was going through, he was forced to take radical changes for the organ to survive. He made it clear that the EAC secretariat was operating on a shoestring budget because its donors, who accounted for about 70 per cent of its budget, had lagged behind in fulfilling their promises by at least 30 per cent. Though he is generally regarded as a less talkative person, the maiden speech the newly appointed East African Community (EAC) Secretary General gave painted him as a no nonsense person geared towards bringing much-needed changes on the way the EAC Secretariat and the community in general operates. Among major priorities, Mr Mfumukeko said he would concentrate on and push for full implementation of protocols and agreements signed or ratified by the EAC partner states, specifically the Customs Union, the Common Market and the East African Monetary Union protocols. He also made it clear that he favoured fast-tracking the integration of South Sudan, a new member of the bloc, into activities, programmes and projects of the EAC. At the same time, he said during his welcoming party by the staff of the community that he would...

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) management says signing of peace deal between  South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir  and opposition leader Riek Machar will boost trade between Kenya and the world’s newest nation. The management says the formation of Transitional Government of National Unity is major step in the return to peace and stability in South Sudan. KPA acting managing Director Catherine Mturi said they expect the volume of South Sudan’s cargo through the port of Mombasa to increase by over 10 percent. According to KPA records, South Sudan cargo through the Port of Mombasa dropped 7.7 per cent last year compared to 2014. KPA said a total of 702,531 tonnes passed through the port of Mombasa were destined for South Sudan . Mturi, however, said that Uganda remains the second biggest user of the port with an 11 per cent share, with its share in transit cargo 8.2 per cent year-on-year, rising to 5.9 million tonnes from 5.5 million tonnes in 2014. On the other hand, Mturi said that KPA management has embarked on a major campaign to fight corruption at the port adding those found engaging in corrupt deals will not be spared. She further said that KPA is already engaging cyber security experts to deal with the problem at the port of Mombasa. Last week, Machar was inaugurated as vice president by President Salva Kiir ahead of forming a unity government. “Our people are tired of war and they need peace, now,” Kiir said. “Together we can accomplish...

Trade issues took centre stage during the 103rd session of the Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, which was held on 25-29 April in Dakar, Senegal. Ministers discussed prospects regarding the Economic partnership agreements (EPAs) still under negotiation with the European Union, as well as issues related to trade in various commodities, such as fishing products and sugar, among others. Ministers also expressed their determination and enthusiasm in advance of the upcoming Summit of Heads of State and Government of ACP countries, which will take place in Papua New Guinea from May 10 to June 1. Hopes are high that the meeting will provide the needed political mandate to rejuvenate the organisation, as well as a foundation on which to build productive engagement regarding the future of the relations between the EU and the ACP Group. The meeting of ACP ministers was followed by a session of the ACP-EU Joint Council of Ministers, which gathered ministers from ACP countries and their counterparts from the European Union. A call for flexibility on the Economic partnerships agreements During the meeting of the council, ministers of the ACP Group agreed on a resolution regarding the Economic partnership agreements between the different ACP regions and the EU. The EPAs are reciprocal – although asymmetrical – trade agreements between the EU and seven ACP regions, namely Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community, West Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific....

The new East African Community secretary general, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, has assumed his duties with a promise to turn around the cash strapped regional body. It is not a secret that the new executive comes at a time when the EAC secretariat is operating with a shoestring budget, 70 per cent of which is donor funded. It means that, what the member countries raise a mere 30 per cent of a budget, and that isn't good enough to keep the integration dream alive. It therefore goes without saying that if EAC continues to operate this way, there is no way the six countries will attain the intended unity any time soon. Mr Mfumukeko, who had been an employee of the secretariat for before his elevation to the helm, has vowed he will work on this sorry state. We hope the EAC states will take this as a wake-up call and find ways of raising funds with which to benefit their people. The statement by the new boss in Arusha means EAC members should aim to make sure donor dependence in running their regional affairs is reduced to a minimum or scrapped altogether. We believe this is possible. If individual countries device and implement strategies to reduce with donor dependence, why shouldn't they do the same at the regional level? What is needed is for the partners to the community to support the new boss who has shown he is determined to make EAC independent. If we want to make the...

This really does have to be one of the sillier pieces of economic policy now being tried out. The East African Community has proposed banning the import of second hand clothes. In February, however, the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental organisation, proposed a ban on imported used clothes and shoes. The aim is to encourage local production and development within member countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The problem here is that people are not understanding the most basic point about trade, poverty and jobs. Imports are the purpose of trade, poverty is the inability to consume and jobs are a cost of doing something. Thus this is nonsense: Many orthodox economists disagree with banning imports because it goes against the principles of free trade. Rather than having the freedom to choose imported used clothing, east African consumers will have to buy higher priced local goods or new clothes imported from Asia. Increasing the cost of clothing will hit east Africa’s many low-income consumers, but the shock effect could be reduced if a ban was imposed gradually. If a tax on used clothing imports was introduced before an outright ban, this could subsidise local production and increase local manufacturing capacity. A revitalised local market would ultimately boost the EAC’s economy by providing more jobs than the second-hand sector while retaining money that currently goes to Europe and the US to pay for second-hand imports. It's not that economists oppose this in order to support free trade. It's that economists...

Across the African continent second-hand clothes from developed countries are a mainstay of many informal traders, dominating local market stalls. East Africa alone imported $151m of second-hand clothing last year, most of which was collected by charities and recyclers in Europe and North America. In February, however, the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental organisation, proposed a ban on imported used clothes and shoes. The aim is to encourage local production and development within member countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. In the 1970s, east Africa’s clothing manufacturing sector employed hundreds of thousands of people, but when the debt crisis hit local economies in the 1980s and 1990s, local manufacturing struggled to compete with international competition and factories were forced to close. Today, the small sector remaining is geared towards production for exports. Many orthodox economists disagree with banning imports because it goes against the principles of free trade. Rather than having the freedom to choose imported used clothing, east African consumers will have to buy higher priced local goods or new clothes imported from Asia. Increasing the cost of clothing will hit east Africa’s many low-income consumers, but the shock effect could be reduced if a ban was imposed gradually. If a tax on used clothing imports was introduced before an outright ban, this could subsidise local production and increase local manufacturing capacity. A revitalised local market would ultimately boost the EAC’s economy by providing more jobs than the second-hand sector while retaining money that currently goes to...

Cape Town — International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane says South Africa is aiming to boost trade with African states by half a trillion rand before the end of the current administration. The Minister said this when she briefed the media ahead of delivering the department's Budget Vote at the Old Assembly Chamber, in Parliament, on Tuesday. "We are targeting half a trillion trade with Africa by 2019." The Minister said the increase in trade and investment relations in both the African continent and the Asia and Middle East markets was linked to the growth of South Africa's diplomatic missions in those areas. She said the same applied to SA's traditional trade partners like the Americas and Europe. "With additional economic diplomacy efforts and enhanced national coordination, South African trade with the world can reach R2 trillion by the end of this administration. "Without a doubt, an unprecedented trade expansion," she said. She said SA's diplomatic presence in the continent has brought tangible benefits in the form of economic growth and job creation. The Minister said the work of the department has increased the country's presence on the continent from seven diplomatic missions in 1994 to 47 in 2015. "Consequently, South Africa's trade in the continent increased 39 times from R11.4 billion in 1994 to R385 billion in 2015. "In 1994, trade with Asia and the Middle East combined was approximately R760 billion for Asia and R116 billion with Middle East," the Minister said. SA signs eight MoUs...