KAMPALA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Bridging over a swamp fully covered with green weeds, the 1,450-meter-long Nambigirwa bridge in southern Uganda is one of the longest bridges in East Africa. The bridge is part of the Chinese company-built Kampala-Entebbe expressway that links the Ugandan capital Kampala and the country's main gateway Entebbe International Airport. The whole expressway project consists of a four-lane dual carriageway with the length of 49.56-kilometers, bridges, major interchanges, underpasses and toll plazas. The construction of the project started in 2012. China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), the constructor, handed over a 4.1-kilometer-long reconstruction section on Nov. 12, 2017 and a 37.21-kilometer-long toll section on May 18, 2018. Currently, the expressway is capable of being open to traffic and is in trial operation. Funded by the concessional loan from China, the expressway is expected to alleviate problems in terms of travel time and comfort, and to enable people to do business more efficiently, according to Edward Katumba-Wamala, Ugandan Minister of State for Works. Over the years, travelers passing through the Entebbe airport have increased hugely, and the number of the travelers is likely to increase with time, Wamala told Xinhua. On the other hand, the traffic volume in Uganda has been increasing over the years and roads that were made for the traffic of the 1970s can no longer accommodate the traffic of today, he said. One of the pains people are facing when travelling to and from the airport is that at times they would miss...

Enterprise Singapore (ESG) opened a centre in Kenya yesterday - its third in Africa - to help Singapore companies enter the region and boost trade and investment between both markets. The centre in the capital Nairobi will serve as a regional hub for East Africa and complement ESG's outlets in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Accra, Ghana. ESG assistant chief executive Yew Sung Pei said: "Today, over 60 Singapore companies operate in Africa across more than 50 countries. Interest from Singapore companies is growing. "Our (Nairobi) office will identify opportunities for Singapore companies, broaden our networks and strengthen the Singapore brand in the fast-growing region." ESG has identified several growth sectors in East Africa where Singapore firms can contribute, including fintech, e-commerce, logistics, light manufacturing and urban solutions and energy. The official opening coincided with a state visit to Kenya and Rwanda by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, and Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry. The delegation is being accompanied by 20 Singapore firms on a business mission organised by ESG and the Singapore Business Federation. East Africa is the fastest-growing region in the continent and accounts for 22 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa's total gross domestic product. It grew 5.9 per cent last year to $467.6 billion. The region is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Singapore's economic ties with the region have been...

Parliament has begun the ratification process of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, which will create an integrated market between 26 African countries. Parliament’s trade and industry committee was briefed on the agreement on Wednesday by Department of Trade and Industry chief director Wamkele Mene, who said ratification by SA would send a strong signal of its commitment to regional integration. SA is also engaged in negotiations on the Continental Africa Free Trade Area and the department’s director-general, Lionel October, told the committee that it was now ready to sign it. SA signed the TFTA agreement in July 2017. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by 14 member states. So far only Egypt, Uganda and Kenya have ratified it. The TFTA will include members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States (Comesa) and the East African Community. These countries have a combined gross domestic product of $1.2-trillion and a combined population of about 626-million people. Some TFTA countries, such as Rwanda, Ethiopa and Tanzania, are among the fastest-growing economies on the continent. SA’s trade with TFTA countries represents about 16% of its total trade with the world. In 2017 SA’s total trade with TFTA countries amounted to $27.6bn. "SA will build on its current share of the African market and have access to a larger, more integrated and growing regional market. This has the potential to stimulate industrial development, investment and job creation," Mene said. He...

JUBA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Tuesday that it is ready to start processing and issuing East African Community (EAC) electronic passport to enhance cross-border movement of people and goods. Mou Mou Athian, the under-secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African Affairs, said the e-passport is expected to unleash benefits linked to regional integration. "We are ready to start issuance of the EAC digital passport to our citizens because it is very important to have one society that is governed by a common market protocol," Athian told journalists in Juba. He said the e-passport will have categories that include diplomatic, service and ordinary and its validity depends on the beholders' terms though it is set for 10 years validation. The move came after the regional economic bloc set August as the deadline for South Sudan and Rwanda to start issuing their citizens the electronic passports. Last year, the EAC's six partner states including South Sudan were directed to start issuing the new East Africa machine readable electronic passports by January but the preparedness of each member state was considered. South Sudan applied for membership to the EAC as soon as it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. However, its application was declined because of the country's institutional weakness. In 2016, South Sudan was officially admitted to become the sixth member of the EAC after President Salva Kiir signed an accession treaty in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. The East African Community was originally formed...

ADDIS ABABA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East African countries, under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), on Monday disclosed their interest in penetrating Southeast Asia's meat and live animals market via Hong Kong. IGAD member countries, which usually export live animals and meat to Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said Hong Kong's meat and live animals market could help to mitigate some of the challenges faced while exporting to MENA region, IGAD said in a statement. According to IGAD, despite the close proximity and East Africa's rich animal resources, the region was only able to meet 50 percent and 10 percent of the annual demand of the Middle East and North African markets respectively. Noting the seasonal nature of MENA's meat and live animal market, which reaches its high peak during religious seasons when millions of live animals exported especially to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for festivity slaughter, IGAD stressed "the need to mitigate the seasonal demand and promote continuous exports." "It was necessary to explore new markets in Southeast Asia while at the same time expanding the existing market in MENA," the statement read. The East African bloc IGAD, which recently sent its trade mission to Hong Kong to explore opportunities of entering the market for meat, also hailed the possibilities to penetrate the region's meat market via Hong Kong. "Hong Kong can serve as a gateway to different cities that have a combined population of 66 million people that can provide good market for imported...

Trade policy cooperation and coordination are more than ever of utmost importance to us. Increasing protectionist tendencies provide us with a clear incentive and opportunity to express our strong support for the multilateral trading system. Joint press release by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on the occasion of their meeting in Berlin on 11 June 2018. Our common approach of fostering international economic policy cooperation remains necessary to address global challenges, set new standards and improve the prospects for inclusive and sustainable growth. To this end, we remain committed to strengthening both institutional and informal links among national governments, international organizations and other stakeholders, including such fora as the G7 and G20. The global conjuncture remains favorable. World growth rose to 3.8% in 2017. The IMF projects a slight pick-up in global growth to 3.9% in 2018-19. Among advanced economies, expansionary fiscal policy is expected to drive the US economy above full employment, while excess capacity in Euro Area economies is projected to narrow with support from accommodative monetary policy. Among emerging and developing economies, prospects are for continued strong growth in emerging Asia and Europe but are more subdued elsewhere. Inflationary pressures remain contained, despite the increase in commodity prices. Financial conditions are generally supportive, but with some signs of differentiation across countries. The WTO anticipates merchandise trade volume growth...

NAIROBI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East Africa Community (EAC) member states have agreed to complete cross-border frequency coordination by the end of 2018, an official said on Monday. Ally Simba, Executive Secretary of East African Communications Organization (EACO), told a media briefing in Nairobi that that people living at border areas in the region have for long experienced forced roaming as a result of cross-border mobile network interferences. Simba said that this has resulted in those residents paying high roaming charges to access mobile telecommunications services. Speaking during the 25th East African Communications Organization (EACO) meeting of assemblies, Simba said cross-border frequency coordination for mobile services has been done in 90 percent of the borders and the verification exercise by the regulators is ongoing. He noted that the aim of the coordination exercise is to reduce forced roaming so that users are able to connect to their home networks without interference from the neighboring country's networks. Simba added that cross-border frequency coordination for broadcasting services has also commenced and the work of implementing the cross-border framework for broadcasting should be complete by the end of the year. Peter Munya, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary in the EAC Ministry, said the EAC member states and private ICT firms in the region have in the past initiated projects that are not only fostering integration among people but have also lowered the cost of doing business in the region. Munya said among the most successful is the multi-country initiative that harmonized the regional mobile roaming...

Preferential Trade agreement, free trade areas, customs union, once well planned under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA pact), benefits outweigh protectionism by far. AFCFTA member countries will have few or no price controls in form of tariffs or quotas between each other. This agreement like many around the globe, allow member countries to focus on their competitive advantages and to produce the goods and services they are comparatively more efficient at making, thus increasing the efficiency and profitability of each country. Competitive advantage Competitive advantages are conditions that allow a company or country to produce a good or service of equal value at a lower price or in a more desirable fashion. Business players will need to vigorously monitor their position to compete.  A local company must look for conditions that allow production of goods and services that will generate more sales or superior margins compared to its market rivals. Competitive advantages are attributed to a variety of factors including cost structure, branding, and the quality of product offering, the distribution network, intellectual property and customer service. The two major competitive advantages are comparative advantages and differential advantages. Under comparative advantages, firms produce a good or service more efficiently than its competitors, which leads to greater profit margins, thus creates a comparative advantage. Therefore, the more sustainable the competitive advantage, the more difficult it is for competitors to neutralize the advantages. Remember rational consumers will chose the cheaper of any two perfect substitutes offered. Investors’ expectations More dynamic...

Kenya risks missing out on business opportunities in other East African Community (EAC) countries. EAC Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya cited police roadblocks on international highways, double taxation and inefficacy at the port of Mombasa as some of the challenges Kenya must address to maximize on trade opportunities. Munya said he has written to the national Government and asked that roadblocks that have been erected on international highways be removed to ease movement of transit goods. “These roadblocks are causing unnecessary delays of goods from Mombasa to neighbouring countries. I have raised the issue with relevant agency and I hope the barriers will be removed soon,” he said in Kitale. He also asked counties to stop imposing illegal taxes on transit goods. Source: Standard Digital

Taxation by county governments on transit goods is holding back plans to eliminate trade barriers between East Africa Africa Community countries, Cabinet minster Peter Munya said at the weekend. The Cabinet Secretary for East African and Northern Corridor Development said double taxation will stiffle the growth of the East African economic market. “I want to ask the county governments to stop double taxation on the trucks that are on transit, that is not in the constitution,” he said. Munya was speaking in Kitale during a sensitisation workshop for Members of County Assembly drawn from Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Busia and Turkana whch are border counties on EAC trade rules. He urged counties to minimise roadblocks that hinder movement of goods from the port of Mombasa to other East African countries saying that summit decisions stipulates that unnecessary roadblocks should be avoided on international highways. “It is very clear that there should be no roadblocks on international highways that’s a decision by the summit that must be adhered to, this is causing a lot of delays,” he said. The minister said only gazetted roadblocks placed to enhance security should be in place. He said that as a result of the roadblocks which lead to time wastage, other countries with similar goods are edging out Kenya from its traditional regional markets an advantage that Kenya has been enjoying with the signing of the East African free trade. He said that faster movement of goods from the Mombasa port will enable Kenya to...