President John Pombe Magufuli's maiden visit to Kenya should end the grandstanding between the two countries, writes Sekou Toure Otondi. Tanzania's President John Magufuli greets Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta during his official visit to Kenya in October 2016. (Thomas Mukoya, Reuters) Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has finally made his maiden visit to Kenya, only his third official state visit to a foreign country since he took office a year ago. All his previous visits were short trips to neighbouring countries Rwanda, twice, and Uganda. That all his engagements have been within the East African Community seems to underline a foreign policy shift re-positioning Tanzania as a leading regional actor. His predecessor, President Jakaya Kikwete, was less enthusiastic about regional integration. Tanzania’s apparent aloofness under Kikwete gave rise to the formation of a so-called “coalition of the willing”. This saw Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda acting together to fast track regional development projects. Magufuli’s visit to Kenya is therefore being seen as an attempt to reaffirm Tanzania’s place within the East African Community. Just as importantly, it is also being seen as an attempt to reset bilateral relations with Kenya which, at best, have been lukewarm under his watch. The talks between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Magufuli appear designed to put to one side their perceived personal and ideological differences. This will not only have an impact on the two countries but also regional integration efforts. Tetchy times Relations got off to a rocky start early in Magufuli’s term when...

By Christopher Majaliwa Dodoma — Decline of cargo volume at Dar es Salaam Port, slow pace of executing projects and sickening life yesterday rocked the National Assembly, with legislators calling for prompt remedial strategies. Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the ruling party and opposition camp raised a red flag on the likely disconsolate life ahead should the government fail to engage the business community and other stakeholders in the deliberation of some critical economic issues. Debating the Development Plan Proposal and Budget Framework for 2017/2018, the lawmakers appreciated the government's move to intensify tax collection system in the country as praiseworthy but said, "some areas needed revisiting. " Mr Ahmed Ali Salum (Solwa-CCM) decried the dwindling cargo volume at the Dar es Salaam port due to introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) on transit cargo, among others. He advised the government to engage the business community and other stakeholders in devising the best ways to manage the country's major see gateway, which was previously handling substantial amount of cargo. Mr Salum noted that the cargo decline at the port has led to many people losing jobs while the government revenues also dropped drastically. "We must look at this issue with the seriousness it deserves ... people are not happy out there, life is hard. No money, no business...," he claimed, appealing to the cabinet members to tell President John Magufuli about the real situation on the ground. He asked the government to fully engage the private sector for the...

By Dorothy Nakaweesi Kampala — East African Community partner states have been challenged to benchmark themselves with the world's most advanced economies if they are to grow. This was said by former EAC Secretary General, Mr Amanya Mushega, who said EAC needs to revisit and do away with the standard way of judging itself by sub-Saharan African standards. "India, Singapore and South Africa refused to treat themselves that way. They aimed high, looked at the way the USA, Japan, Germany, UK and the USSR developed their human resources, copied them with the view to competing with them," Mr Mushega said. Mr Mushega was giving a keynote address during the opening of the two-day EAC-EU-IMF conference on regional integration on Monday in Arusha, Tanzania. The theme of the conference was 'Regional Integration in the EAC: Making the most of the Common Market on the Road to a Monetary Union.' Mr Mushega called for heavy investment in human resource development, and urged the Community to compare the number and quality of local skills with advanced economies. "For EAC to develop, exploit its resources, build industries, not cutting and wrapping imported products for it to build and maintain roads, railways, airports and dams, compete in local and world markets, it must put maximum efforts on the quality of education and skills of its population," he said. Speaking at the forum, the director of the IMF's African Department Mr Abebe Aemro Selassie, said the challenge for the EAC, as for other fast growing countries...

Uganda is to host the 17th edition of the East African Community Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibition that will take place from December 5 to 11, 2016 in Kampala. The exhibition will held under the theme, "Buy East African MSE Products to build East Africa" According to the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, the Jua Kali /Nguvu Kazi Expo is an annual regional exhibition within the East African Community (EAC) with an objective of bringing together the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) artisans and innovators from the East African Region The purpose is opening up new market frontiers for their products as well as bridging up the technological gaps between them. The hosting of the expo among the EAC Partner States is rotational. It was held in Dar es Salaam last year and in Kigali in 2014. The exhibition, the ministry said, provides a forum for artisans to demonstrate their innovations to an East African region that is focused on attaining a fully-fledged Common Market complete with free movement of goods, services, labour, people, capital and the right of establishing business and residence. The EAC Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibition is as old as the EAC itself, having been held every year since 1999 through collaboration between the EAC Secretariat, the Partner States and Confederation of Informal Sector Organizations East Africa (CISO-EA). At the exhibition, experts give the exhibitors professional advice on the key topics such as: opportunities offered by the East African Common Market Protocol; how to invest in...

The United Nations Conference on trade and development held in Kenya has agreed that historical tariff barriers must be lifted In talks which took place at the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and development, held in Kenya, between African ministers, there was agreement that present and existing domestic regulations, particularly in the form of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), remain a barrier to free trade across Africa. Opening the conference UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Regulatory frameworks governing trade, investment in and technology play a critical role, and rather than working to change the economic model for the better, many actual and would-be leaders are instead embracing protectionism and even xenophobia,” he said. Speaking as one of the panellists considering the question of lowering the hurdles for trade costs, regulatory convergence and regional integration,Eddy Njoroge, writing in Standard Digital, said that trade barriers had to come down, particularly for the telecoms industry which contributes some $300 billion to Africa’s GDP:  “While we strive to position our regional telecommunications industry as the continent’s most competitive space that foreign investors can take note of, we need to clean our Augean stable – we have placed upon ourselves debilitating trade barriers right at home.” The ministers present were aware of the glaring contradictions in the present regulatory environment. The example was used in the discussion that while Tanzania’s converged licencing model supports the so-called tripleplay telecoms; IT and broadcasting model, Uganda’s model is on emphasising infrastructure licencing and Kenya’s unified licencing framework concentrates on the service level. Rwanda, the...

East African Community (EAC) has made considerable progress on payment systems and financial markets integration. However, participants on the high level conference concluded in Arusha on Tuesday acknowledged that fiscal deficits need to be brought down to meet the convergence criterion and to ensure the stability of the future monetary union. Convergence goes beyond headline fiscal deficits and public debt, and fiscal risks need to be monitored closely. The conference was jointly organised by the EAC Secretariat, the European Union (EU), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entitled 'Regional Integration in the EAC: Making the Most of the Common Market on the Road to a 'Monetary Union' in Arusha. In this regard, participants noted still high compliance cost in light of different regulations in member countries. On the Fintech front, however, the EAC region is ahead of many other countries in the world. The importance of proper sequencing and pace of financial integration was stressed in light of risks involved. Moreover, further progress is needed in data harmonisation and monetary policy frameworks and operations, and there is a need to establish the new institutions that will play a key role for the implementation and resilience of the union. EAC region policymakers reaffirmed their commitment to build a strong economic and monetary union. Participants assessed the current state and pace of economic integration and noted considerable progress towards a single entry visa, processing times at ports, and removal of internal tariffs. As indicated in the second EAC Common Market Scorecard 2016...

03 November 2016 | Bill Boyle The United Nations Conference on trade and development held in Kenya has made a call for tariff barriers and other restrictive measures to be dramatically eased. In talks which took place at the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and development, held in Kenya, between African ministers, there was agreement that present and existing domestic regulations, particularly in the form of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), remain a barrier to free trade across Africa. Opening the conference UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Regulatory frameworks governing trade, investment in and technology play a critical role, and rather than working to change the economic model for the better, many actual and would-be leaders are instead embracing protectionism and even xenophobia,” he said. Speaking as one of the panellists considering the question of lowering the hurdles for trade costs, regulatory convergence and regional integration,Eddy Njoroge, writing in Standard Digital, said that trade barriers had to come down, particularly for the telecoms industry which contributes some $300 billion to Africa’s GDP:  “While we strive to position our regional telecommunications industry as the continent’s most competitive space that foreign investors can take note of, we need to clean our Augean stable – we have placed upon ourselves debilitating trade barriers right at home.” The ministers present were aware of the glaring contradictions in the present regulatory environment. The example was used in the discussion that while Tanzania’s converged licencing model supports the so-called tripleplay telecoms; IT and broadcasting model, Uganda’s model is...

IN SUMMARY Tanzania has slashed residence permit fees to Sh50,500 from Sh202,000 for EAC citizens seeking to stay and work in the country. President Uhuru Kenyatta last month asked Tanzania to waive the work permit charges and honour the EAC Heads of State deal that sanctioned free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waived the work permit fees but Tanzania and Burundi are yet to ratify the deal. Tanzania has ignored calls to scrap work permit fees for residents of the East African Community (EAC) and has instead cut the charges to Sh50,500 per year. The country’s Immigration services department slashed residence permit fees to Sh50,500 ($500) from Sh202,000 ($2,000) for EAC citizens seeking to stay and work in Tanzania. This applies to employees from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. President Uhuru Kenyatta last month asked Tanzania to waive the work permit charges and honour the EAC Heads of State deal that sanctioned free movement of people, goods, services and capital to achieve the dream of a borderless East Africa. The permit fees are seen as a barrier to increased trade in the region. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waived the work permit fees but Tanzania and Burundi are yet to ratify the deal. “These changes seek to provide preferential treatment to citizens of EAC member countries as compared to those coming from other countries,” Immigration services commissioner for Border Control and Management Abdullah Khamis told the media in Dar es Salaam....

By Anne Robi East African Business Council has called on Tanzania and other EAC countries to focus on cross border investments for better and quick businesses development and promotion of integration. The Chairman the Council, Mr Felix Mosha, made the call yesterday in Dar es Salaam when opening a tentative programme for Public Private Dialogue on the Tanzania Private Sector involvement and contribution to the implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol (CMP). Mr Mosha said that focusing on cross borders investments was vital in the EAC common market development as it would help gather sources familiar to the EAC economic. "Tanzania and East Africa should collectively direct their focus towards cross border investments, which have so far made Kenya the third or fourth largest FDI investor in Tanzania," he said. Mr Mosha called on TPSF to ensure SMEs are fully informed about conditions for their effective trading opportunities within EAC. Mr Mosha said SMEs are not sufficiently informed about EAC Common market which denies opportunities in EAC. "Trade expansion in the East African integration should not be left to depend on large corporations. From the experience of EABC, SMEs are not sufficiently informed about conditions for their effective trading opportunities within the EAC," he said stressing the need for TPSF to put more efforts and ensure SMEs are fully involved. Meanwhile, TPSF commended the government's effort in the elimination of non-tariff barriers in the EAC market. TPSF Consultant Mr Salum Awadhi said a research carried out indicate that the...

Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has finally made his maiden visit to Kenya, only his third official state visit to a foreign country since he took office a year ago. All his previous visits were short trips to neighbouring countries Rwanda, twice, and Uganda. That all his engagements have been within the East African Community seems to underline a foreign policy shift re-positioning Tanzania as a leading regional actor. His predecessor, President Jakaya Kikwete, was less enthusiastic about regional integration. Tanzania's apparent aloofness under Kikwete gave rise to the formation of a so-called "coalition of the willing". This saw Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda acting together to fast track regional development projects. Magufuli's visit to Kenya is therefore being seen as as an attempt to reaffirm Tanzania's place within the East African Community. Just as importantly, it is also being seen as an attempt to reset bilateral relations with Kenya which, at best, have been lukewarm under his watch. The talks between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Magufuli appear designed to put to one side their perceived personal and ideological differences. This will not only have an impact on the two countries but also regional integration efforts. Tetchy times Relations got off to a rocky start early in Magufuli's term when he disrupted Kenya's stewardship role in the "coalition of the willing". He did so by working with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni to re-route Uganda's planned oil pipeline through Tanzania after Kenya appeared to have secured it. The celebrations that followed...