Dar es Salaam. The second phase of a project that seeks to strengthen manufacturing and productivity improvement in Tanzania will benefit a total of 100 industries, initiators have said. The project – supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) through its Kaizen initiative – will cover industries located in five regions in a period of two years, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Adelhem Meru has said. The Kaizen project intends to add value to industrial production in Tanzania. “This time around, the project – which ends in 2020 – will cover Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Mbeya and Singida regions,” Dr Meru said during the official launch the Kaizen Project on Tuesday. Some 52 enterprises from Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Dodoma have benefited from the project during its first phase. According to Dr Meru, industries involved are now reporting improved productivity to the extent that others are even exporting their products to other countries. The first phase of the Kaizen Project was conducted between 2013 and 2016. It aimed at establishing a framework and the right methodology for improving productivity and quality of the products in a manufacturing enterprise. "Introducing and promoting Kaizen in Tanzania is indispensable for successful industrialization of the country," said the Jica chief representative in Tanzania, Mr Toshio Nagase. During the second phase, more focus will be on industries that deal in health and agricultural sectors. The word "Kaizen" originally comes from a Japanese language, directly translated as "Change to betterment"...

East African Community (EAC) member countries should embrace the culture of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), ensuring that disputes are determined using arbitration and other friendly mechanisms of addressing commercial disagreements. Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said this will help reduce the backlog of cases in the commercial courts, among others. “International arbitration has gradually grown over the past years, and given the increasing economic activities, it is becoming significant to our economic and justice sectors,” the minister said. “So, it is important that the justice sector creates an enabling environment for Alternative Dispute Resolution practice and also ensure that disputes are resolved using arbitration and other friendly mechanisms of dispute resolution. This will reduce the backlog in the courts.” Busingye was opening a three-day fellowship training programme organised by the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) in partnership with Chattered Institute of Arbitration, UK. The training, that started on Monday in Kigali, ends September 27, and the trainees will acquire the Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). It attracted participants from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and members of the East African Court of Justice. During the training, the participants will share experiences from their respective countries, and discuss appropriate strategies on how to overcome the key challenges that still hinder the successful implementation of ADR in the EAC bloc, according to the KIAC officials. Busingye said it imperative that all stakeholders “work jointly to develop this sector and provide the necessary conditions for it to grow further in a sustainable manner”. He...

Tanzania has retained business permit fees for Kenyan firms after nearly one year of gruelling negotiations. The move is seen to symbolise the country’s lack of enthusiasm for the 18- year-old trade pact among East African Community member states. Kenyan firms expanding or setting up subsidiaries in Tanzania have, however, won some relief after Tanzania cut the permit fee by half from Sh50,000 to Sh25,000. Tanzania upset its integration partners with the November 2015 introduction of permit charges with the enactment of the non-citizen employment regulation Act. The treaty, which took effect in 2010 demands the scrapping of visas and work permit fees charged on firms from neighbouring countries. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waived the work permit fees since 2013, leaving only Tanzania, Burundi and new entrant South Sudan with such restrictions. Efforts to scrap work permit have since taken several rounds of negotiations including the July direct communication between President Uhuru Kenyatta and President John Magufuli and the September 8 meeting between Trade principal secretary Chris Kiptoo and his Tanzanian counterpart, Adolf Mkenda. “Tanzania has revised business permit fees for EAC partner states to $250. The chiefs of immigration and labour commissioners will meet on October 31 to deliberate further on this matter,” Dr Kiptoo and Prof Mkenda said in a joint statement after their Dar meeting. During the meeting, Tanzania also agreed to cut by three quarters the expatriate work permit fees charged on EAC firms that send non-Tanzanian staff to work in the country. “Expatriate permit...

THE government in collaboration with various food processing industries is setting plans to boost production and supply of wheat flour in the East African region, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Prof Adolf Mkenda said yesterday. The PS said the idea was to increase the production and supply of wheat flour in the region and reduce importation of the product from abroad. “We have invited stakeholders in the area, we want our processing industries to produce enough wheat flour so that it could be supplied in the region,” he said at a Tanzania Broadcast Corporation (TBC) morning programme. In several occasions there have been talks between Tanzania and Kenya on the access of market for various products from the two countries. In April, for instance, Kenya banned Tanzania’s wheat flour from accessing its market. The country also raised concerns on cooking gas imports through the Kenya-Tanzania border on the disguise of safety and quality concerns. The PS said another talks are scheduled for November and that stakeholders in wheat businesses across the country have been invited. In June, this year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that the World Wheat Production in the 2017/18 will be 739.53 million metric tonnes. Last year the production was 754.1 million tonnes. Tanzania produces an average of 75,000 tons per annum while Kenya is capable of producing 300,000 tonnes. Demand for wheat in Kenya currently stands at 1.5 million tonnes per year. The country thus imports the remaining 1.2...

Tanzania has blocked preferential access for Kenyan textile goods manufactured outside the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), citing unfair competition for its own manufacturers. "This is informed by the fact that Kenya has allowed textile and apparel manufactures operating in the EPZ to off load their final textile products in the Kenyan market duty free," Tanzania stated in a communiqué from a joint meeting on September 2 in Dar-es-Salaam to iron out trade wrangles between the two countries. "This in effect may hinder similar products from Tanzania from being competitive when sold in the Kenyan market." Kenya in May cleared firms operating in its EPZs to sell up to an expanded 40 per cent of their products in the local market as part of strategy to boost sales and help prop the struggling industry. The EPZ firms were initially only allowed to sell 20 per cent of their products in the Kenyan market with the rest sold under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) -- a trade pact that allows US buyers to import goods from a number of sub-Saharan African countries without paying taxes. Dumping products The gesture has, however, sparked a trade spat between the two countries amid concern that the Kenya's expanded domestic market sales quota for EPZ firms could lead to dumping of products in the Tanzanian market. "Tanzania is not according preferential treatment to Kenya because it is now enjoying a stay of application for textiles and footwear. Moreover, 96 per cent of textile produced...

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce has approved ‘Look Africa Plan’ with stringent measures to boost bilateral trade between Pakistan and Africa in the upcoming years. The plan was approved by the ministry on Aug 17, as per project details available with Dawn. Pakistan’s total trade with Africa is $3 billion as against the total trade volume of $3 trillion. Pakistan’s share in total trade of African countries is 0.3 per cent. Under the policy, top 10 countries out of the 54 African nations selected trade promotion include Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. All these countries constitute 78pc of the total African gross domestic product (GDP). According to the policy, Pakistan will offer to negotiate a preferential trade agreement with three African trading blocs – Southern African Customs Union (SACU), East African Community (EAC), and Economic Community of West African States that constitute (ECOWAS). SACU members are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland while EAC comprises of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. A similar PTA with ECOWAS, which includes Benin; Burkina Faso; Cabo Verde; Côte d’Ivoire; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Liberia; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; and Togolese, is also envisioned. The value of bilateral trade between the countries is less than $100 million. As per policy, joint working groups (JWGs) on trade will be established by the commerce ministry to engage major African countries to have regular interaction. Currently, Pakistan has only 13 joint ministerial commissions with African...

Traders and clearing agents have welcomed the initiative by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and other government agencies to implement 24-hour operations at Rusumo on the Rwanda-Tanzania border. The facility will also work as one stop border post (OSBP), according to RRA officials. The local business community says the move will greatly boost cross-border trade and reduce transit time. Raphael Tugirumuremyi, the RRA Commissioner of customs, said the border will effective October 2 start 24-hour operations, adding that the move was agreed on by Heads of States of Rwanda and Tanzania during official opening of the facility last year. “We want to facilitate easy movement of people, goods and services hence enhancing cross-border trade in the region. This will also help to reduce transit costs incurred in cross-border movement by combining the activities of both countries’ border organisations and agencies,” Tugirumuremyi said. Stakeholder speak out According to Fred Seka, the chairman of the Association of Clearing and Freight Forwarders in Rwanda, the OSBP at Rusumo will play a big role in improving the flow of goods and people along the Central Corridor of the East Africa region. “We are therefore thrilled to have the post operate none stop. This could translate into increased trade volumes in economic terms,” he added. Rusumo is one of the region’s frontiers, connecting the East African Community, particularly the land-locked members of bloc, to its two gateways to the rest of the world through the Port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Kenya’s Mombasa port....

Kenya’s status as East Africa’s economic powerhouse is at stake as Tanzania races closely behind, with a higher growth rate that is increasingly narrowing the gap between the two economies. Tanzania has added impetus to its economic firepower, growing by an impressive seven per cent over the past five years compared to Kenya’s growth of just above five per cent. The latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that Tanzania’s economy expanded seven times in the past 20 years while Kenya’s output grew five times since 1997 with the trend expected in coming years, weakening Nairobi’s future dominance. The same data shows that there were times in the past when Kenya’s economy would be as many as four times as large as that of Uganda. However, such a big gap has not been reached in many years and is has remained mostly below three times. Rapid growth In Tanzania, it is sustained rapid growth that has helped the country reduce the gap in the size of its economy compared to her neighbour. It’s such growth that saw neighbouring Ethiopia overtake Kenya’s economy for the first time in 2015, a situation that experts say might happen again with Tanzania if nothing changes. Kenya’s economy size was more than double that of Tanzania 20 years ago but the gap has now narrowed to less than half. The IMF data shows that Kenya’s annual economic output, also known as gross domestic product (GDP), stood at $13.7 billion (Sh1.4 trillion) in 1997 while that...

This of course bears out the inflexible maxim: ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – a characteristic of a large number of African institutions which continue to toil away in the shadows. With media space limited and so many organisations, public and private, fighting to be seen and heard, anything less than a robust proactive approach to securing stage presence will not do. Fortunately, over the past few years, first under the presidency of Jean-Louis Ekra and now under his successor, Dr Benedict Oramah, who both understand the importance of a strong public presence, Afreximbank is rightly taking its place among the continent’s institutional pantheon. It is important that it should. After the rollercoaster ride over the past 15 years, the continent, despite the current slowdown, is well positioned to take the next painful but essential step in moving up the development ladder to middle-income status. Given the fickle ‘boom and bust’ commodities cycle, most parties are agreed that the most sustainable route towards this end is through a rapid increase in trade – particularly intra-African trade. And this is where Afreximbank has a critical role to play. The lifeblood of trade is affordable finance but the muscle is an expansion of markets. Since 1994, Afreximbank has approved more than $51bn in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $10.3bn in 2016 alone. This is a clear indication of the increasing importance of the bank in facilitating the rising volume of African trade. Nevertheless, this is not enough. The bank,...

Dar es Salaam. The government is looking for investors to finance the construction of the remaining part of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) that will connect Tanzania with some landlocked countries. The government wants to upgrade the railway from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma and Dar es Salaa-Mwanza into the standard gauge. Already the construction of the first part comprising of 205km from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and the government expects to sign a contract for the second part (Morogoro-Makutupora in Dodoma) soon. The Minister for Works, Transport and Communication Prof Makame Mbarawa now says the government was looking for investors who will finance the next part which stretches from Dodoma through Tabora to Isaka and Kwanza. “For the second part of the construction from Morogoro to Makutupora, 336km, we expect to sign a contract in two weeks’ time,” he said during the 8th East and Central Africa Road and Rail Infrastructure summit 2017 yesterday. He said Tanzania plans to connect with neighboring landlocked countries of Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia which depend on the Tanzania Sea and Lake Ports for their imports and exports through the Standard Guage Railways. Source: The citizen