East Africa’s producers of sugar, maize, cement and other goods categorised as “sensitive” will be protected from intense competition from Egypt and other countries as the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) comes into force next month. Restrictions on the entry of the sensitive goods will remain in force until 2017, allowing the industries to adjust to the cut-throat competition expected from cheaper products. The list of sensitive goods also has wheat, rice, textiles, milk and cream, meslin grain and flour, cane and beet sugar, khangas, kikois, kitenges, second hand clothes, beverages, spirits, plastics, electronic equipment and paper materials. All these will be subject to duty and quota restrictions. TFTA was launched by the Heads of State in Egypt on Wednesday last week. It will pool the trade interests of the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and other African countries that have a combined GDP of more than $1 trillion, and a population of 625 million people. The countries that signed the deal were Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Comoros, Seychelles, Mozambique. Others were Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Lesotho, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia. The launch of the TFTA effectively opens the door for EAC goods that could not easily access bigger markets such as South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea. “The two-year period will allow for gradual tariff alignments and adjustments by the TFTA...

The East Africa Community governments are using technology to promote e-commerce and take services closer to citizens. Kenya has allocated Ksh2.5 billion ($25.7 million) towards increasing the one-stop shop Huduma Centres and Ksh1.9 billion ($19.5 million) for the continued rollout of Integrated Financial Management Information Systems. Rwanda and Kenya will promote e-learning through providing ICT learning devices to schools. Rwanda will continue with its One-Laptop-a-Child project while Kenya will be making a second attempt to provide laptops to primary school children. The government has allocated Ksh17.58 billion ($181 million) towards this initiative covering ICT learning devices, digital content, building capacity for teachers and the building of computer labs. Tanzania is also planning to have more learning equipment in place with the aim of promoting technology. The country is planning to take more e-services available to its citizens through Internet and mobile penetration. “Key challenges that the government needs to overcome for successful implementation are access to electricity and Internet connectivity in remote areas and safety of the devices,” says a report by PwC on budget analysis. Over 400,000 Kenyans have registered on the e-Citizen Payment platform with over 8,000 transactions and with revenue collection averaging about Ksh10 million ($103,000) daily, the government further aims to digitise at least 100 inbound payment service transactions by end of 2015. In Uganda, the National Information Technology Authority is currently consolidating the hardware and software licences to accelerate delivery of government services. It is also connecting public universities to the national backbone infrastructure to...

It has been observed that the East African Community has demonstrated the most feasible progress on integration and is said to be the most ambitious of all the regional economic communities in Africa. The East African Community member states have made a number of significant strides towards the realization of full economic integration of the region’s economies. The recently concluded 10th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit is one of the things that remind us of this progress. The Northern Corridor Integration Projects initiative was designed to generate sustainable political will necessary to fast track the implementation of the projects identified. The first Summit was held in June 2013 and the three Heads of State of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya agreed to meet every two months to review progress. The meetings are hosted by Partner States on rotational basis and the decision is supported by articles 1 and 7 of the EAC Treaty which allows progression in cooperation among groups within the Community for wider integration. Member States of the Northern Corridor have made noteworthy advancement in mobilising resources for the rehabilitation of the trunk road networks. The 10th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit showed how East African Community has so far brought forth vast evolution of regional development as a result of this project. Their constant support has so far driven this noble regional development project. A number of milestones have been reached. For instance, under the Northern Corridor summits, partner countries have already agreed on the removal of non-tariff...

A free trade agreement has the potential to transform the continent, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said on Wednesday in a speech at the Tripartite Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, during a two-day visit to Egypt.“My hope is that you find a path to finalize a trade agreement that presents new economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable to lead better lives, Kim said. This is an important moment toward a brighter economic future for the continent, connecting Cairo to Cape Town and much in-between will integrate Africa more completely into the global economy, he added. He expressed strong commitment to the Middle East and Africa regions, praising the 26 member countries of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for moving toward establishing a Tripartite Free Trade Area, the largest in Africa. “In Africa and the Middle East regions, we provided nearly $20 billion in assistance in 2014, and we’re on track to provide similar levels this year, he said. Kim met with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and government officials to discuss Egypt’s key role in regional economic development, and how the Bank can best support the country in achieving shared growth, economic inclusion, and social justice to address the needs of the poor and vulnerable, especially in lagging regions. Source: Star Africa

The third COMESA-EAC-SADC Summit yesterday signed a new trade pact creating a common market across half of the continent. The new pact, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) which must still be ratified, is a critical step in opening up opportunities for business and investment within the 26-member bloc of 625 million people. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto were among the leaders who signed the pact at a summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Sisi said the launch represents a "very important step in the history" of the regional integration of Africa. "We have told the world today... of our desire to adopt practices that will increase trade among ourselves. We will do whatever is possible to activate this agreement," Sisi said. Teddy Kaberuka, a Rwandan economic analyst, said the TFTA will benefit Rwanda and the wider region, especially because it will "attract more investors to the region." She described the deal as 'historic'. "It creates a market of 600 million people with a combined GDP of US$1 trillion. With the TFTA, many challenges will be lifted, including non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade and dispute resolution, import and export fees, transit procedures, simplification of customs documents, rules of origin, and tariff liberation." Once states ratify the TFTA through their respective national parliaments (within two years), benefits will include growth in intra-regional trade, experts say. The reduction or elimination of...

CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Wednesday that Egypt will host Africa’s Trade and Investment Forum in October, according to a Presidency statement. Sisi statements were part of his speech at the coclusion of the African Blocs’ tripartite summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh, after signing the African Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) agreement to establish a free trade zone between the 26 member states by 2017. “The upcoming forum is set to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh October 29-30, to introduce commercial and investment opportunities in Africa on the regional and international levels,” the statement read. Sisi stressed that Egypt supports all the African Union initiatives, as well as all regional projects that aim to develop the main infrastructure of the African continent. The AFTZ agreement was signed between the Southern African Development Community (SADC,) the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC.) Source: The Cairo Post

The Zambian government has started talks with of Kenya and Tanzania to help repossess its shipping yards in the two countries, local media reported on Tuesday, citing a government official. Zambia used to operate two shopping yards in the two countries but the shipping yards were taken away. Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication Yamfwa Mukanga said the government was doing everything possible to ensure that the shipping yards in both countries were given back to Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail reported. "As Zambia, we used to have a shipping yard at Mtwara port in Tanzania and another at Mombasa port in Kenya years back. "We are in discussion with the two governments to have these two properties back," he was quoted as saying by the paper. The two shipyards, he said, were lost by the government during the time of liberalization and subsequent privatization of state enterprises Zambia undertook in the 1990s, adding that some properties could not be accounted for, while others could not be traced. "We are coming from an economy where everything was nationalized and during privatization, some property could not be traced. "But now we know where some assets are, like the shipping yard at Mtwara port and we have since engaged the Tanzanian government," he added. He said a lot of resources were invested by the government in the two shipping yards and that it was important that Zambia recovers its assets abroad. The Zambian minister, who was recently appointed as chairperson of an...

African leaders have established a single free trade area encompassing 26 countries and 625 million people in eastern and southern Africa. And next week, they'll kick off a process to negotiate an all-Africa trade pact. African heads of state gathered in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh on Wednesday to sign a milestone trade deal creating a Cairo-to-Cape-Town common market, spanning the eastern half of Africa from Egypt in the north to South Africa in the south. In 2017, when it comes into force, the common market created by the customs union will encompass 51 percent of the continent's GDP - about $1 trillion annually (884 billion euros) - and a slew of big countries with huge growth potential, such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique. "Compared to any other region, Africa has seen the least amount of intra-regional trade - it amounts to only 12 to 14 percent of total trade," according to Razia Khan, head of Africa Economic Research at Standard Chartered bank in London. Implementation has lagged in previous trade agreements "Many countries sign up to all of these agreements, but in terms of actual implementation, the record is very different. This is only the beginning of the process - it could be some years before it's fully in effect." So the key is to watch and see whether countries follow up with implementation, Khan said. Many African countries had signed up to multiple regional trade bloc agreements, but in practice, "they didn't really mean anything,"...

African leaders from three economic trading blocs are set to sign a tripartite agreement on Wednesday ahead of the launch of the proposed continental wide free trade area. Africa’s regional economic bodies, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will be the building blocks of the Africa free trade area whose instruments to launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area will be signed in Egypt. Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto left the country on Tuesday to join Heads of States and Governments during the third tripartite summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), EAC and SADC. Ruto, who will be representing President Uhuru Kenyatta, said the aim of the meeting is to make it easier for movement of goods, people and services among African countries. "The meeting will witness the signing of Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement that will bring together member countries to promote economic and social development in the region by creating a single market with free movement of goods and services," Ruto said in a statement before his departure. He said the agreement will require member states to, among other things, expedite the process towards operationalization of the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite Free trade Area by removing bottlenecks to trade. "Member countries will also be required to finalize outstanding issues and commence phase two negotiations covering trade in services, cooperation in trade and development, competition policy, intellectual property rights and cross border movements," he said. The countries will be asked...

CAIRO, June 10 (Reuters) - Representatives from 25 African nations signed an initial agreement on Wednesday to create a free-trade zone linking three economic blocs that would unite 57 percent of the continent's population. The deal would combine the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the South African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC). It requires negotiations and ratification by national parliaments, Egyptian Industry and Trade Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said in comments to state news agency MENA. The alliance would bring together more than 60 percent of the continent's gross domestic product, valued at $1.2 trillion, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on the last day of a week-long conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "What we are doing today represents an important and decisive point in the history of African economic integration," he said in a televised address before the signing ceremony. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim told the conference that the agreement "could be an important milestone for the economic future for the continent", according to a prepared speech on the World Bank's website. Source: Reuters