It will now be easier and faster for the business community in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to report trade barriers within the tripartite regional economic bloc, thanks to a new short messaging service (SMS) system. According to experts, the innovation that was launched last week will help improve regional trade. Souef Kamalidini, the Director General of Customs of the Union of Comoros, said the SMS tool will supplement the current web-based online system for reporting, monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) used by COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A similar system is used by the Northern Corridor countries to report NTBs. The tripartite online reporting system is a real-time mechanism for reporting, processing, monitoring and resolving NTBs. The SMS system that is being rolled out by COMESA member states is part of capacity building and empowerment to manage NTBs and fast-track their removal. According to Kamalidini, the new tool will especially help the informal sector and small-scale traders who do not have access to the Internet to report NTBs in real time. “With the new technology, each member state is able to install and operate the system using a ‘central’ number at the national level where stakeholders can send messages on trade obstacles. This way, they (traders) will not incur any roaming charges to send an SMS,” he explained. Alphose Kwizera, the assistant executive director at the Rwanda Association of Manufacturers (RAM), said the tool is...

DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) -- A senior official with the East African Community (EAC) said on Thursday implementation of the bloc’s single customs territory (SCT) has tremendously reduced the cost of doing business in the region. Dicksons Kateshumbwa, chairman of the EAC Committee on Customs, said turnaround time has been reduced from 21 days to 3-5 days on average between the entry points to Kampala in Uganda, Kigali in Rwanda, and Bujumbura in Burundi. The six-member EAC is implementing a number of customs projects, including the SCT, transforming the way of doing business for the benefit of EAC members economies. “Capacity building and sensitization to support the SCT has been done and is ongoing,” Kateshumbwa told a news conference in Dar es Salaam. The SCT started in 2014 on both the northern and central corridors where goods are assessed and declared at the first point of entry and move to the destination partner state with taxes and duties paid upfront. Kateshumbwa said integration of customs functioning was enhanced through cross-border deployment of staff in partner states, leading to better accountability, deterrence of smuggling and closer cooperation among customs authorities. “So far we have rolled out goods on the SCT on pilot basis,” Kateshumbwa said. “However, the most important decision we have made today is that we have agreed on the full implementation of the SCT effective July 31, 2017.” He said customs automation across the region has been enhanced in all member states—Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South...

Tanzania is banking 45% of its financial budget to be spent on infrastructure development. According to the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, a budget of Tshs4.5trillion was mentioned, that will cover for the development, among other projects. Out of the amount, the transport sector will take a huge chunk, totalling Tshs 2.5trillion, while Tshs1.9trilion is for works sector and the remaining Tshs18billion is reserved for communication sector. Among areas of priority, is Tshs 900billion for the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Morogoro to Dodoma. In the current financial year, the government has allocated Tshs 1trilllion to cover the Dar es Salaam -Morogoro patch, in which President John Magufuli, has already laid a foundation stone and the project, is ongoing. Prof Makame Mbarawa further said that during the next financial year, the government has set aside Tshs 200bilion for rehabilitation of Dar es Salaam-Isaka central railway, which will include bridges and culverts and to rehabilitate railway lines within Dar es Salaam Port. He said the projects will be supported by the World Bank. Another project highlights in transport sector to be covered during the 2017/2018 fiscal year is Tshs 187billion for the modernization and expansion of the Dar es Salaam Port and a sum of Tshs 87billion for the construction of a Multi-Purpose Terminal at Mtwara Port. He said Tshs 500billion has been allocated for the continued revival of the national carrier – Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL). During the next fiscal year, Prof Mbarawa said, the amount...

Kampala — Government has secured funding for the construction of the first logistics hub at the Gulu Railway station, targeting the markets in South Sudan through Alegu and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through West Nile. South Sudan and DRC are Uganda’s largest export markets. According to Mr Benon Kajuna, the director transport in the ministry of Works and Transport, the hub will be constructed on at least 24 acres – provided by the government. The project will cost $8.6m (Shs30.96b) of which $5.6m (Shs20b) is available with funding from DFID and TradeMark Africa. “In October 2016, we completed a pre-feasibility study for the project, with designs expected at the end of this year. Currently, a consultant is working on the proposed design for the project. We expect construction to commence by end 2018,” he told delegates attending the Joint Oil and Gas and Logistics Expo 2017 at Kampala Serena Hotel Conference Centre last week. A logistics hub is a designated area that deals with activities related to transportation, organisation, separation, coordination and distribution of goods for national and international transit, on a commercial basis by various operators. Gulu is one of the four areas designated in Uganda where there is a planned logistics hub. The Gulu hub is expected to serve the two export markets for Ugandan goods but also for re-exports destined for DRC and South Sudan. It will be a Private-Public Partnership (PPP), with some private sector players expected to come on board. According to Mr...

The East African Community (EAC) has saved $3.4 million from cost-cutting measures designed to reduce travel expenses. For the 10-month period from May 2016 to February 2017, EAC travel expenditures fell to $9.1 million compared to $12.5 million during a similar period the previous financial year. The Community’s travel expenditure includes air tickets and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for EAC Staff, Partner States’ delegates and other participants at EAC meetings. In April 2016 the EAC, which has been facing financial constraints, adopted administrative and institutional reforms aimed at cutting down costs and reducing wastage in its expenditure. Some of the most significant cost reductions were in expenditure drops on air tickets for EAC staff by $456,491 and air tickets for Partner States’ delegates and other participants to EAC meetings by $408,273. DSA for EAC staff declined from $4.5 million to $3.2 million; and for Partner States’ delegates from $4.4 million to $3.5 million in the same period under review. EAC Secretary General Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko noted that the Community’s overall travel budget has significantly reduced over the past three financial years; from $28.1million in 2014/2015; to $28.0 million in 2015/2016; and now $21 million in the current financial year. Source: Foot Print To Africa

The East African Community could follow in the footsteps of African Union in its quest to find an alternative financing mechanism, a regional lawmaker has said. During last year’s African Union Summit in Kigali, the Heads of State adopted a self-financing mechanism, proposed by former African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka. The African Union (AU) model aims to raise $1.2 billion (about Rwf898 billion) annually to reduce heavy dependence on external partners to finance Africa’s development projects. Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) say regional ministers of finance are set to meet in Arusha, Tanzania to consider the various proposals on the table and finalise the matter of alternative financing for the bloc. “I believe the proposals are similar to those put forward by the African Union. We’ve had proposals for a number of years, but the Council requested for more clarification as there were more issues to be considered,” MP Patricia Hajabakiga, the chairperson of Rwandan EALA chapter, told a news conference in Kigali yesterday. Finance ministers from the bloc start meeting today until May 8 to consider various matters connected with the region’s financial muscles. During their latest country tour, the lawmakers met and held discussions with heads of key government departments with a direct bearing on the regions integration agenda. MP Martin Ngoga (Rwanda) said the matter of an alternative financing mechanism for the Community was among the issues they discussed with Finance and Economic Planning minister Claver Gatete recently. Ngoga said: “The minister...

Tanzania has joined its fellow members of the East African Community (EAC) -- Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi -- in increasing the pace in harmonisation of local product standards in order to be ready to take advantage of the soon-to-be-introduced EAC Free Trading Area in December. The Director of Trade at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Alhaj Rashid Kiboa, revealed here Monday that the establishment of the tripartite FTA involving the EAC bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), would become a reality this December. “That is why this year’s 20th Meeting of the East African Standards Committee is sitting in Arusha for two days to speed up harmonization of product standards within the EAC region, so that it is ready to export goods and services across to the central and southern parts of the continent as from 2018,” he said. However, Kiboa pointed out that there was still a need for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan to speed up the adaptation and for the Standardization Quality Assurance Metrology and Testing (SQMT) for product certification in the six EAC partner States before venturing further outwards into the continent. The Acting Director-General of the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Prof Egid Beatus Mubofu, said so far, more than 100 standards had been harmonized across the region with more to be approved this year, and that it only remains for the six EAC Member States to adopt such benchmarks...

Kenya’s private sector players have sought help from their Tanzanian counterparts to lobby their government to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe. Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Tanzanian Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) are working on a plan they hope will convince Tanzanian authorities to endorse the deal during the East African Community (EAC) Summit. “The EAC Summit that was to happen in Nairobi in February was postponed to early this month. The summit has been postponed again to a date that is yet to be confirmed. Only Tanzania and Uganda have not ratified the EPA deal and we hope by lobbying with our private sector counterparts, we can have Tanzania sign the deal,” said KEPSA Chief Executive Carole Kariuki in an interview with The Standard. The agreement guarantees EAC member States quota and duty-free access to the European market. Speculation has been rife that the EPA deal is dead in the water, with Tanzania maintaining a hardline stance, arguing that the agreement in its current state would kill off its industries. Ms Kariuki said the two lobbies would be represented at the next EAC summit. Source: Standard Digital

The contrast in elections in Rwanda and Kenya, which both go to the polls in August, has come to the fore with the European Union saying it will not send an expert mission to assess the preparedness in Kigali even as it prepares to send one to Nairobi. The EU will also not send an observer mission to monitor the Rwanda election, something which should not be entirely surprising given that it did not send one in 2010 "for lack of resources." However, this is the first time that the EU will not commit to any of the missions. Unlike an observer mission, which assesses the credibility of an election, an expert mission assesses the potential political, social, media and economic risks before the polls and examines likely interventions. The decision not to send observers for Rwanda's August 4 presidential elections was communicated to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) last week by the head of the EU delegation, Michael Ryan, at a closed door meeting in the company of ambassadors from Germany, UK, France and Belgium. "We are not sending any formal observer missions to the August elections. We don't see the need and have limited resources. There are many elections in the world and we have to decide where to put our resources," Mr Ryan said. Campaigns While the campaigns in Rwanda are restricted to the one month provided for by the Constitution, the campaigns in Kenya kicked off in earnest last week with political parties nominating their candidates...

Arusha — Tanzania has joined its East African Community (EAC) partners-- Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi-- in increasing the pace in harmonisation of local product standards, ready to take advantage of the soon to be introduced Free Trading Area next December. The Director of Trade at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Alhaj Rashid Kiboa, revealed here that the proposed establishment of the tripartite FTA between the EAC bloc to the South African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), would become a reality this December, 2017. "That is why this year's 20th Meeting of East African Standards Committee is sitting in Arusha for two days to speed up harmonization of products standards within the EAC region, ready to export goods and services across to Central and Southern parts of the continent as from 2018," said Alhaj Kiboa. However, he pointed out that there was still need for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South-Sudan to speed up the adaptation and for the Standardization Quality Assurance Metrology and Testing (SQMT) for product certification in the six partner states before venturing further continental. On his part, the Acting Director General for Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Prof Egid Beatus Mubofu reveals that so far more than 100 standards had been harmonized across the region with more to be approved this year, and that it only remains for the six EAC Member States to adopt such benchmarks to ensure that all products met the required quality and...