TANZANIAN traders are expected to benefit as import and export will become easier thanks to the launch of an electronic Certificate of Origin payment system which is expected to enhance trade efficiency. The system under the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) project through financial support of TradeMark Africa was launched in Dar es Salaam over the weekend. It is to expedite application and issuance of delivery of Certificates of Origin (CO) by reducing physical movements and time taken to process the document and thus cutting on days of processing the vital certificates. Speaking at the event, TMA Tanzania Country Director, John Ulanga said, “We TMA are very happy to assist TCCAI on this project of LIPA FASTA system, because this is the aim of TradeMark Africa (TMA) which is growing prosperity in East Africa through trade. He said: “We believe that enhanced trade contributes to economic growth, a reduction in poverty and subsequently increased prosperity towards improving the business environment in Tanzania, promoting trade and bringing business prosperity in Tanzania”. Ulanga said TMA has spent more than 600,000 US dollars in achieving this project for the Tanzanian Industries and Agriculture Association, TCCIA, but also has supported Zanzibar Industries Association, ZNCCIA. The project has been made possible from the support of funds provided by the UK Government through its International Development Agency (DFID) through TradeMark, East Africa, (TMA) which oversees the implementation of the project. He said trade improvements, opening more opportunities for Tanzanians to trade, the rest...

The system under the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) project through financial support of TradeMark Africa was launched in Dar es Salaam over the weekend. It is to expedite application and issuance of delivery of Certificates of Origin (CO) by reducing physical movements and time taken to process the document and thus cutting on days of processing the vital certificates. Speaking at the event, TMA Tanzania Country Director, John Ulanga said, “We TMA are very happy to assist TCCAI on this project of LIPA FASTA system, because this is the aim of TradeMark Africa (TMA) which is growing prosperity in East Africa through trade. He said: “We believe that enhanced trade contributes to economic growth, a reduction in poverty and subsequently increased prosperity towards improving the business environment in Tanzania, promoting trade and bringing business prosperity in Tanzania”. Ulanga said TMA has spent more than 600,000 US dollars in achieving this project for the Tanzanian Industries and Agriculture Association, TCCIA, but also has supported Zanzibar Industries Association, ZNCCIA. The project has been made possible from the support of funds provided by the UK Government through its International Development Agency (DFID) through TradeMark, East Africa, (TMA) which oversees the implementation of the project. He said trade improvements, opening more opportunities for Tanzanians to trade, the rest of Tanzanians will enjoy the opportunities. He urged Tanzanians to grab the opportunities provided for by Trademark. “ Opportunities wait for no one, they are never lost, but can be taken by...

Inefficient border procedures are leading revenue losses of over 5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in some African countries, a roundtable conference on trade facilitation at the East African Community (EAC) headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, has heard. Speaking at the one-day conference on Thursday, James Kisaale, an assistant commissioner at Uganda Revenue Authority, urged sub-Saharan Africa countries, including EAC members, to embrace formalities like automation, as well as simplify and harmonise documents, and ease access to information to help lower cost of trade. Citing a 2013 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, Kisaale said reducing global trade costs by one per cent would increase global income by more than $40 billion, with developing countries being the biggest beneficiaries. Organised by the EAC Secretariat to review and fast-track the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), the roundtable brought together EAC development partners, as well as customs and trade experts from the EAC Secretariat and member states’ ministries of trade. The conference brought together development partners who will work with the EAC in the implementation of the TFA. While opening the roundtable, the EAC director general for customs and trade, Kenneth Bagamuhunda, said trade facilitation was an integral part of the EAC Customs Union Protocol which explicitly provides for reduction in the number and volume of trade documents. “Trade facilitation also provides for the adoption of common standards of trade documentation and procedures, coordination and facilitation of trade and transport activities. There...

A decision on whether all the East African Community partner states will sign the European Union-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will be known in November during the Heads of State Summit. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who is the chairman of the EAC, held a meeting with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on September 27 to present the concerns raised specifically by Tanzania on the EPA, leading to the delay of signing the agreement. "I arrived in Belgium on a three-day working visit. As chairman of EAC, I will hold discussions with the EU over EPA and other related issues," confirmed President Museveni on his Twitter handle. He was accompanied by the EAC Secretary-General Liberat Mfumukeko, ministers of trade from each partner state and assistant ministers or permanent secretaries. Betty Maina, Principal Secretary in Kenya's Ministry of EAC Affairs, said President Museveni presented the concerns raised by Tanzania on why it was unwilling to sign EPA, seeking clarification from the EU. "We expect that EU will respond to the concerns before November. A decision and partner states' position will then be known in November," said Ms Maina. Contentious issues Tanzania is concerned that signing a bad EPA will compromise the region's interests in subsequent trade negotiations. Among the contentious issues is that EU unilaterally puts embargos on trade under the EPA while Article 136 of the EPA still refers to the same agreement that the EU has used to put an embargo on Burundi. Tanzania also says that EAC partner...

The government of Tanzania on Friday awarded a 1.92 billion U.S. dollars contract to a Turkish firm to construct a 336-kilometer standard gauge railway (SGR) line from Morogoro to Makutupora in the east African nation's political capital Dodoma. State-run Reli Assets Holding Company Ltd (RAHCO) that oversees the construction of the SGR said the Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi As was the appointed contractor on the project and will design and construct the high-speed electric railway line. Yapi Merkezi, a privately-owned Turkish contracting company, specializes in rail engineering, design, manufacture and construction. "Fifteen contractors bought bid documents, but after careful assessment of the bids, Yapi Merkezi met both the technical and financial requirements," RAHCO said in a statement. "The new railway line will have a capacity of transporting 17 million tonnes of cargo each year, with a 35 tonne axle load capacity. It will be used by electric trains moving at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour," added the statement. Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Istanbul, Yapi Merkezi has also recently won similar big rail construction deals in Ethiopia. The Tanzanian government wants the new standard gauge railway to replace the existing narrow gauge railway line built some 112 years ago. In February this year, the same Yapi Merkezi company was awarded by the government a deal worth 1.22 billion dollars in joint venture with a Portuguese company to build a 300-kilometer SGR line from the port of Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. The government did...

Kenya will today take its case to the European Union in Brussels in a last-ditch effort to garner support for the Economic Partnership Agreement deal. Trade Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed is leading a Kenyan delegation to the Belgian capital, where he hopes to bring Tanzania on board to take a united stand with its East African Community (EAC) neighbours on the elusive trade pact The delegation will take part in a session of EAC trade ministers with the EU presidency.Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is the current chairman of the EAC Summit, is leading the regional delegation. “Kenya and Rwanda signed the EPA in August 2015, with Kenya ratifying the same in September last year. The move by Kenya was aimed at securing Kenya’s duty-free, quota-free market access in the EU as Kenya along with other EAC partner states seek a solution for all to sign the EPA,” said the CS yesterday in a statement. The EAC Summit held on May 20 this year mandated the chairman to engage with the EU to address concerns that some partner states have on signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) as a bloc. Main opposer Kenya has put up a spirited fight to have all EAC countries support the EPA as a way of safeguarding unlimited duty-free access of its exports to Europe. The agreement would guarantee EAC traders duty and quota-free access to the EU market in exchange for the gradual opening up of up to 80 per cent of the region’s market...

HAVE you noted that politicians are the same all over the world that is why they can promise to build a bridge where there is no river? These are people who lead terrible lives, when he is not straddling an issue, he is busy dodging one, but because they form part of the society, we must live with them and show them that they must not necessarily be leaders. To narrow the point home, as East Africa community citizens numbering over 150 million people, the bloc wants charismatic leaders capable of making the citizens shelve off poverty, fight diseases, ignorance and above all uprooting corruption to its roots. It may be debatable that leaders are born and not made despite education they may have or acquire to lead its people, but the business of a leader is to turn weaknesses into strengths, obstacles into stepping stones, and disasters into triumphs and that is exactly where John Pombe Magufuli (JPM) and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are leaders at the helm in the fight against corruption in their backyards (read EAC bloc). Recently, President Magufuli advised residents of Arusha (read citizens of EAC) to shun cheap politics saying: "There is no way we can ever make development strides by steeping into cheap politics that divide people; nobody here was born supporting any political party!" As citizens of the bloc, if we want economic growth/ development, we should never let an economic (development) question get into politics, because politicians make mistakes that is...

The East African trading bloc is set to adopt a uniform cargo tracking system as conflicting technologies being used are cited for border delays between Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda use a joint real-time Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) while Tanzania has a mobile-based digital scheme. Officials say the incompatible technologies are responsible for delays at border points, which raises the cost of transporting goods in the region. Every truck passing through Tanzania has to fix a permanent device that costs $1,000 (Sh103,000) while those crossing to Kenya and partner states cannot load transit cargo. Following a meeting on September 8 between Kenya’s trade PS Chris Kiptoo and Tanzania counterpart Adolf Mkenda, the two countries agreed on the need to adopt a uniform regional cargo tracking system. “Kenya reported that she was not aware of the existence of a mobile tracking system. The East Africa Community (EAC) partner states had their own cargo tracking system, but EAC Secretariat are in the process of developing and adopting a regional Electronic Cargo Tracking system from entry point across the EAC. Both parties to urge EAC Secretariat to expedite adoption of the regional electronic cargo tracking system,” read a statement. The ECTS enables real time tracking of transit cargo from Mombasa port to its destination through an online platform monitored in the three countries. The Tanzania system tracks goods within its borders. READ: Kenya joins Uganda, Rwanda in common cargo tracking system The ECTS system comprises satellites, a monitoring centre and special...

Sometime last year when a group of Kenyan traders accused Tanzania of making their goods too expensive in its market by collecting the Railway Development Levy (RDL) on them, few bureaucrats paid much attention to the complaints. Kenya was the first country to introduce the RDL in 2013, which is collected at the rate of 1.5 per cent on home-bound imports. Unlike Uganda and Tanzania which have borrowed the idea, Kenya started on a wrong footing when it chose to levy the tax on nearly every import that came into its market, including those from the East African Community (EAC). Through their lobby, the East African Business Council, the region’s traders successfully talked the government out of the tax in 2014 — which they had labelled as one of the non-tariff barriers of the time. Kenya has a number of trade disputes with Tanzania but some bureaucrats believe collection of RDL is not one of them. The officials were somewhat vindicated when a Kenyan team led by trade PS Chris Kiptoo failed to produce evidence to back up their claims. Tanzania has been categorical that in has been collecting RDL in the last two years and like its other neighbours, it spares imports originating from EAC states. And so Tanzania’s trade and investment PS Adolf Mkenda told Kenya’s dispute resolution team lead by Dr Kiptoo: “Tanzania does not levy RDL on imports originating from EAC.” Away from bilateral trade disputes, the East African states seem to have realised the positive...

Northern Tanzania-bound cargo through Mombasa port accounted for 281 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) or 5.4 per cent to emerge the second transit destination in the week ended September 20. As usual Uganda retained its leading position, accounting for 4,228 TEUs or 81.2 per cent of the total transit bound traffic which stood at 5,208 TEUs. Other transit destinations included South Sudan which accounted for 279 TEUs, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 205 TEUs and Rwanda with 167 TEUs. Somalia and Burundi registered 29 TEUs and 11 TEUs respectively. During the week under review, the container terminals received nine vessels that recorded a ship average working time of 1.67 days. Container dwell time registered 4.25 days down from 5.55 days in the previous week. The container carriers discharged 10,193 TEUs and loaded another 11,356 TEUs. Containers delivered out of the port by road transport were 11,479 TEUs while the rail lifted 321 TEUs. The total yard population declined by 7,013 TEUs to 12,158 TEUs. The new population comprised 2,253 TEUS awaiting pickup order, 3,704 TEUs ready for collection and 1,659 TEUs full exports. Others included 967 TEUs for transhipment, 2,749 TEUs empties and 826 TEUs at the Customs Warehouse. Local bound imports also declined by 1,962 TEUs to settle at 2,423 TEUs. Container freight stations (CFSs) received 821,090 TEUs and delivered 817,645 TEUs leaving a balance of 3,445 TEUs. The Conventional Cargo Terminal received 25 general cargo vessels and handled 262,885 metric tonnes at an average of 37,555...