The share of intra-EAC trade to the total trade declined to 10.1 per cent from 11.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania continue to dominate intra-East African Community trade even though its value fell from $5.8 billion to $5.63 billion in the same period. Kenya’s total exports to Uganda over the 2011-2015 period stood at $3.28 billion, followed by Tanzania ($1.98 billion), Rwanda ($734.93 million) and Burundi ($303.83 million). Exports to South Sudan, which was admitted to the EAC in March this year stood at $71 million. Intra-EAC trade is mainly dominated by agricultural commodities such as coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, rice, maize, and wheat flour and manufactured goods such as, cement, petroleum products, textiles, sugar, beer and salt. Uganda remains a key market for Kenya’s exports, according to Kenya’s Economic Survey (2016). Similarly Kenya imported the most goods from Uganda at Ksh81.57 billion ($815 million) in the same period, followed by Tanzania ($748.64 million) and Rwanda ($36.45 million). But major imports came from South Africa, totalling $3.19 billion. Latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that Kenya’s combined exports to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda  dropped from $69.9 million   in January to $1.56 million in February, before rising to $88.8 million n March. Last year, a study by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa Community revealed that  the volume of Kenya’s exports to the EAC had fallen sharply largely due to unfair competition from Chinese traders and the country’s unfavourable taxation regime. Unfavourable taxation measures such as...

Famous for mountain gorilla and spectacular mountain scenery, Rwanda is set to host the annual Africa Travel Association (ATA) Congress to be taking place in Rwanda’s sprawling city of Kigali November this year. Bearing a theme of “Destination Africa: The Future of African Tourism”, the the ATA’s 41st Congress will be held in Kigali from November 14 to 17, bringing delegates from Africa, United States, Europe and other parts of the world. To be taking place in East Africa for three consecutive years, the ATA 41st Congress is set to focus the East African region as the single tourist destination in Africa and best for combined African safari. ATA 39th Congress was held in Kampala, Uganda in November 2014 and the ATA 40th Congress held in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in November last year. It will be the first time for Rwanda to host the ATA Congress and where the delegates will get a unique chance to observe Rwanda’s hospitality with a visit to a selected tourist hotspot in this fast growing African safari destination. Kenya is the first African and the East African state to host the first ATA Congress in 1976 just a year after the association was launched in New York the previous year, 1975, by a group of travel and airline executives. Other ATA Congress events which took place in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi were the ATA's 10th Annual Congress in 1985, ATA's 20th Annual Congress in 1995, ATA's 30th Annual Congress in 2005 and...

The East African Community Competition Authority (EACCA) will be operational from July with a mandate to curb unfair trade practices in the region and protect consumers from substandard goods. The authority will restrict trade practices and transactions that unduly limit fair competition. “The EACCA will commence operations in the 2016/2017 financial year and will act as a one-stop-centre in the enforcement of its provisions,” said Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation Susan Kolimba. Dr Kolimba said the Council of Ministers has appointed commissioners and a secretariat who are working on the modalities of EACCA operations. The East African Legislative Assembly approved $587,565 for the authority. In 2015, the EAC Council of Ministers adopted the East African Community Competition (Amendment) Bill, which provided for the establishment of the EACCA. The authority has jurisdiction in all the five partner states, while South Sudan will be covered at a later stage, as it is not fully integrated into the EAC. The EAC Competition Act, 2006, among other things, seeks to allow consumers to take class action against goods or services providers. It also seeks to seal loopholes that enable trade associations and firms operating across the region to engage in exclusive agreements, or form cartels, forcing consumers to pay higher prices for goods and services. Trade specialists say that while some EAC partner states have enacted national competition acts, these laws have proved inadequate to deal with cross-border and multi-jurisdictional competition cases. National competition laws and regulations are limited to political boundaries because they do...

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania continue to dominate intra-East African Community trade even though its value fell from $5.8 billion in 2013 to $5.63 billion in 2014. The share of intra-EAC trade to the total trade declined to 10.1 per cent from 11.1 per cent in the same period. Intra-EAC trade is mainly dominated by agricultural commodities such as coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, rice, maize, and wheat flour and manufactured goods such as, cement, petroleum products, textiles, sugar, beer and salt. Uganda remains a key market for Kenya’s exports, according to Kenya’s Economic Survey (2016). Kenya’s total exports to Uganda over the 2011-2015 period stood at $3.28 billion, followed by Tanzania ($1.98 billion), Rwanda ($734.93 million) and Burundi ($303.83 million). Exports to South Sudan, which was admitted to the EAC in March this year stood at $71 million. Similarly Kenya imported the most goods from Uganda at Ksh81.57 billion ($815 million) in the same period, followed by Tanzania ($748.64 million) and Rwanda ($36.45 million). But major imports came from South Africa, totalling $3.19 billion. Latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that Kenya’s combined exports to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda  dropped from $69.9 million   in January to $1.56 million in February, before rising to $88.8 million n March. Last year, a study by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa Community revealed that  the volume of Kenya’s exports to the EAC had fallen sharply largely due to unfair competition from Chinese traders and the country’s unfavourable taxation regime. Unfavourable taxation measures such...

Arusha — In an apparent political will to spur intraregional trade, Tanzania and Kenya have assented to the East African Community (EAC) Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade Bill, 2015. Tabling the EAC Budget, the Tanzania's deputy minister for Foreign Affairs, East Africa, and Regional and international Co-operation, Dr Susan Kolimba, said Dar and Nairobi had assented to the Bill and that the duo was waiting for other three heads of state to also append their signatures to it. These are Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Salvar Kiir of South Sudan will not assent to it, as his country is not yet fully integrated into the bloc. The means both Dar and Nairobi have formally committed themselves to implement the will-be binding legislation to eliminate NTBs to trade among the five EAC partner states. However, the East African Business Council (EABC) says though it would like the other EAC heads of states to assent to the Bill, the will-be Act should be returned to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) for it to amend and make it more effective. The apex body of business associations of the private sector and corporates from the five East African countries said the Bill was strictly dependent on the political will to eliminate reported NTBs among parties involved, with neither consequences for non-elimination nor retribution for aggrieved parties. The EABC trade economist, Mr Adrian Njau, proposes that the Eala should amend the NTBs Bill to address the fault...

During the recent East Africa and Dubai Agribusiness Roundtable meeting, representatives from the East African Community (EAC) joined Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Ethiopian International Office to discuss opportunities for cooperation and investment. In attendance at the meeting were Abdul Razak Mohammed Hadi, UAE Ambassador to Kenya, and representatives of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the Private Sector Federation Rwanda and the Chambers of Burundi, Tanzania Zanzibar and Uganda. The roundtable focused on the agribusiness industry, an industry of the utmost importance to the UAE, which imports 85 percent of its food from overseas markets. “The UAE is fully committed to increasing trade and economic development in the region and we have done this by offering excellent logistical and export/import free zones while helping African companies to carry out their trading activities with global traders through the country,” Hadi said. Omar Khan, director of the international offices of Dubai Chamber, was also in attendance and talked about the importance of the African continent as a strategic partner for Dubai’s business community. The chamber will open international offices in the continent to support private sector growth. Source: Gulf News

Expensive maize in Tanzania and Uganda contributed in sparking a sharp rise in the price of flour in Kenya as local millers cut reliance on grains from the neighbouring countries. The latest food security report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries indicates that imports from neighbouring countries dropped to 205,350 bags in quarter one, down from 1.8 million in the same period last year. This came as Kenyan farmers stepped up maize exports to Tanzania, worsening the cereal shortage locally that has seen flour prices rise by Sh15 for the two kilogram packet since February. Data prepared by the Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network (Ratin) shows that a 90-kg bag of maize retailed at Sh4,898 in Dar es Salaam, the highest unit price in East Africa. The same quantity of maize currently fetches about 2,700 in Nairobi, an average of Sh2,661 in Kampala and Sh4,597 in Burundi. “The supplies of maize have been tight in the market and millers are unable to get enough stocks, this situation is behind the rise in flour prices,” said an official of the Cereal Millers Association. The government notes that the reduced imports of the various major food commodities signify relative adequacy of stocks. “The cross-border imports decreased by 80 in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year,” says the report. Millers have been complaining of decreased supply of local stocks in the market and are banking on stocks from Tanzania, whose harvest season has...

After years of frosty relations, Rwanda and Tanzania seem to have finally mended their bridges over the past few months. Under the presidency of Jakaya Kikwete, the relationship between the two East African neighbours deteriorated over a number of diplomatic rows and political disagreements. Signs of a gradual reconciliation began towards the end of Kikwete’s decade in office, but this trend has accelerated greatly since he was replaced by President John Magufuli in November 2015. This was seen most symbolically this April when Magufuli attended Rwanda’s 2016 genocide commemoration ceremony, laying a wreath and lighting a memorial flame alongside his counterpart Paul Kagame in honour of the victims of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. On this visit, Magufuli was welcomed enthusiastically as he visited the country, with President Kagame remarking: “You must know, first of all, that you are at your brother’s place. Since you were elected, your presence has been refreshing.” The tone of relations between the two neighbours has thus warmed significantly in recent months, and relations got even closer last month as the first Tanzania-Rwanda Trade Forum was held in Kigali. A line seems to have been drawn under several years of tense relations, with both countries hoping to benefit. Carry that weight Over the past two decades or so, relations between Tanzania and Rwanda have typically been fairly close. Before the genocide broke out, Tanzania hosted the negotiations between the then government of President Juvénal Habyarimana and the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) leading to the Arusha Accords. And...

Romania’s Government aims to stimulate the country’s exports to Africa and has signed, together with other EU countries, an economic partnership agreement with the East African Community (EAC) states. Romania anticipates that the agreement will help it export Dacia Logan cars, communication equipment, mineral water to Burindi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, reports local Profit.ro. The Government also hopes that the partnership will help increase Romania’s exports of construction materials, fertilizers, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products to these countries. Romania’s trade with EAC countries totaled EUR 32 million in 2015, consisting in EUR 11.6 million exports and EUR 20.4 million imports. Source: Romania - insider.com

An urban planning policy for the East African Community (EAC) will create a network for the allocation of investment and for the production and sale of most goods and services once adopted, a regional parliamentarian said. MP Nancy Abisai earlier this month urged the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to adopt a motion in support of an urban planning policy for the bloc, with view to empower the urban poor. Shortly before the motion was adopted, the Kenyan lawmaker told the Assembly that poor urban governance and inappropriate policy frameworks contribute to the vulnerability of the urban poor. Corruption, inappropriate policies, and cumbersome regulatory requirements in EAC cities, she said, lead to deprivations such as inadequate infrastructure and environmental services, limited access to school and health care and social exclusion. “Better urban governance is, therefore, a necessary condition for empowering the urban poor and improving their opportunities and security,” Abisai said. “Urban planning will reduce social inequality. Social and economic inequalities are apparent in urban areas and are growing in all the cities in the EAC partner states and can lead to social and political clashes.” Augustin Rwomushana, Director of Urban Economic Development in the City of Kigali, told The New Times last week that EALA’s resolution is a catalyst for increasing urban network of regional cities, towns, and villages encompassing all aspects of the environment within which societies’ economic and social interactions take place. Rwomushana added: “Nationally, the resolution will create a network for the allocation of investment and...