A United Nations think-tank has warned the East African Community against entering into an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union arguing that it will neither spur economic growth nor bring wealth to the region's citizens. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) says in a report that if the EPA is signed, local industries will struggle to withstand competitive pressures from EU firms, while the region will be stuck in its position as a low value-added commodity exporter. "If the EAC-EU EPA is fully implemented, the region risks losing trading opportunities with other partners, industrial output, welfare and GDP," the 45-page report seen by The EastAfrican says. The report titled Analysis of the Impact of the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement on the EAC Economies is yet to be made public and is expected to be discussed by the Council of Ministers in the "days to come," according to sources at the EAC Secretariat. But according to David Luke, co-ordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at UNECA, the deal with Europe will be calamitous unless EAC countries are able to clearly define what their infant industries are, as well as identify sub-sectors they intend to protect. "While the EPA purportedly intends to respect regional integration programmes, they are adding to the complexity of the task. Additional burdens are created through provisions that complicate or contradict the agreements African states have with each other or are about to make," Mr Luke said. Rwanda's Minister of Trade, Industry and EAC...

Improved efficiency at the Dar es Salaam port has enhanced the volume of cargo handling, with promise of an additional 120,000 tonnes of imports and exports to an annual freight tonnage of 16 million. The Director General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Eng. Deusdedit Kakoko, maintained yesterday that the volume of cargo has continued to record an upward trend during the last quarter of last year and first quarter of this year. "We recorded an impressive surge in traffic of cargo between October and December, last year and this was maintained during January to March, this year," he explained. To spice-it all up, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Simba Logistics Limited, Mr Azim Dewji, assured the port management of exports and imports totalling 10,000 tonnes each month, translating to about 120,000 per annum. Mr Dewji, a prominent businessman dealing in transport and logistics, hailed the Fifth Phase Government under President John Magufuli, for sweeping reforms at the port which have considerably improved efficiency. The businessman was speaking at the port during an occasion to receive a fleet of over 50 long-distance trucks loaded with heavy machinery destined for mining and processing of minerals in the Eastern parts of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "We have clients in DRC who will be importing machinery for mining and construction projects and at the same time will be transporting through the Dar es Salaam port copper and other exports from DRC and Zambia. "... we had issues of red-tape from government authorities...

The Export Promotion Council has partnered with the International Trade Centre and Barclays Bank to empower women in the textile and apparel sector. This is under the “Empowering Women in Trade in East Africa Project 2016-17” being implemented by ITC and funded by Trade Mark East Africa. The projects aims at enabling women owned Small and Medium-sized enterprises working in selected sectors in East Africa to trade, by increasing the value of their international business transactions. The deal involves capacity building training to enable the women meet among others, international quality standards, to enable their products reach foreign markets. “We want to the business women understand the textile and apparel buyer requirements and how to manufacture apparel to meet international standards,” EPC newly appointed CEO Peter Biwott said in a statement yesterday. Source: News Summed Up

Holding capacity for Nairobi’s Inland Container Depot is set to be increased from 180,000 to 450,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUS) by May 1, the transport ministry has announced. Transport Secretary James Macharia said the adjustment will start upon completion of the ongoing construction. So far, the Kenya Ports Authority has acquired and installed 12 high-capacity cranes that can handle four export and four import Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) cargo trains daily. Each train has a total tonnage capacity of 4,000. “Efficiency at the Nairobi ICD facility will reduce freight charges which will lower prices of basic commodities for the mwananchi,” he said. Mr Macharia said the facility with a capacity to handle 450,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (containers) will provide one-stop shop services for exporters and importers thereby easing costs incurred for goods transported to Mombasa by road and those from Mombasa which usually takes an average of three days. But with the new high speed Standard Gauge Railway facility, a cargo locomotive moving at 80 kilometres per hour will take an average of eight hours, equivalent to 216 trucks that take three days to cover the 472 kilometre journey. In an interview, Kenya Railways Chief Executive Atanas Maina said the ICD would operate on a 24hour basis with the facility run on a modern information technology platform where importers and exporters will seamlessly clear cargo. “We anticipate a situation where importers will be able to clear goods on the same day from our ICD Nairobi depot to their go-downs...

The East African Community (EAC) is set to issue a common travel passport. The move was announced following a just-concluded meeting of EAC Council of Ministers in Arusha, Tanzania. According to Tanzania Daily News, member countries of the EAC have been directed to start issuing the new machine-readable common passport by January 31, 2018. The common passport, which had previously been slated to begin in April 2017, had to be rescheduled and shifted by one year to allow all countries to meet a uniform deadline. An official report from the 35th EAC Council of Ministers meeting revealed that Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda were ready to commence the common passport regime; however, Tanzania and South Sudan could only realistically commence issuance of the new passport by 2018. A resolution reached at the 17th ordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State directed all member nations to gradually phase out the current national passports between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2018. When launched, the new common passport is expected to guarantee citizens of the six-member nation regional body seamless cross border travel for business, pleasure, and learning. It will also create a common market for goods and services and boost the free movement of people within the regional bloc. The new e-passport will have diplomatic, service as well as standard categories. Regular passports will be valid for up 10 years while diplomatic passports will be valid according to the term of service. The passports will come with a chip that stores...

The East African Community (EAC) is to rebrand itself, a new development that will see changes in the EAC emblem and symbols. This will affect the flag, the emblem and the EAC theme colours, according to a press release issued by the Principal Public Relations Officer Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Uganda, Cris Magoba. “The EAC Brand Architecture Strategy proposes several initiatives that include re-designing a new EAC logo and flag, developing a common unique identifier for all organs and institutions; developing one primary (main) EAC corporate colour and one secondary colour; and developing a single visual identity emblem for the Community,” he said. He explained that the EAC Brand Architecture Strategy comes in the wake of the admission of the Republic of South Sudan and the possibility of the future expansion of the Community in line with Article 3 of the Treaty establishing the EAC. Article 3, Clause 2 of the Treaty provides that: 'The Partner states may, upon such terms and in such manner as they may determine, together  negotiate  with  any  foreign  country  the  granting  of  membership  to,  or association of that country with, the Community or its participation in any of the activities of the Community'. Currently the emblem features a map of Lake Victoria with the partner states Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda around it. This is surrounded by an industrial wheel with a leave arch on either side with the letters 'EAC' at the top. At the bottom of the emblem is...

The East African Community (EAC) says rapid population growth is putting the region’s economies and environments under pressure. Jesca Eriyo, the deputy secretary-general of the EAC, says poverty levels will increase in East African nations if their populations continue to grow at their current rate. She suggests countries in the region do more to control the number of children being born to prevent the negative impact of human habitation on its member states. ‘Poverty levels will grow’ Speaking at the Sectoral Council of Ministers meeting for Lake Victoria Basin Council, Ms Eriyo warned that poverty will increase in East African nations if they fail to control their birth rates more effectively. “If we don’t control the number of children we are giving birth to, poverty levels will grow. This requires re-alignment of policies, processes and systems and sharing of resources for coordinated actions,” she said. The latest United Nations World Population Prospect shows that Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are among the world’s 33 countries expected to see their populations increase five-fold, or more, by 2100. Rapid population growth in the region is putting pressure on countries’ budgets and environment. In a previous UN report, it was estimated that 60 percent of pollution related deaths are due to contaminated water or poor hygiene, 40 per cent due to indoor air pollution and one per cent due to outdoor air pollution. Human impact on EAC countries Rapid population growth combined with changing habitations patterns, overgrazing, bio piracy, deforestation, pollution and the unsustainable exploitation of natural...

NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese engagement is helping create an infrastructure boom across Africa, giving rise to a motley of mega-projects that create jobs and boost economic growth while cushioning an economic slowdown the region faces. In its latest World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast the sub-Saharan Africa's economy will only grow 2.6 percent in 2017, well below its global growth forecast of 3.5 percent. The subdued growth outlook for the region is largely because of ugly data registered in the region's two biggest economies that account for about half of regional output. The report said in 2016 growth in South Africa grew only 0.3 percent while the Nigerian economy contracted 1.5 percent amid low international oil and commodity prices. The IMF predicted only a modest 0.8-percent growth for both countries this year. However, behind the seemingly bleak outlook, there is a silver lining in terms of the diversity in some other African countries keen to invest heavily in infrastructure projects to boost growth, often with China's involvement. Thanks to a more diversified economic structure and infrastructure investment binge, East Africa's largest economy Kenya has maintained a growth rate of around 6 percent. In Kenya, a standard-gauge railway (SGR) stretching about 480 km and linking its capital Nairobi with Mombasa port is changing the country's landscape with brightly-colored trains and shiny modern stations. The project, due to be launched in less than two months, is constructed by a Chinese firm and sources most of...

The money will be used to finance priority expenditure in the Second Five Year Development Plan, particularly in the agriculture, energy, health and industrial development sectors. The first tranche will be dispersed this year, as the two sides have managed to separate the grant from their long-running dispute over the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Doto James, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, said: “This confirms EU as one of our strategic and reliable development partner in terms of amount, reliability, predictability and amount of financial support as well as alignment of the support to country’s plans and strategies. The partnership has remarkably enabled the government to implement its development strategies and plans.” In return for the financial support, the government has agreed to maximise its own domestic revenue raising. The head of the European Union delegation in Tanzania, Roeland van de Geer, added: “We’re committed to supporting the government to address the challenges they are facing.” Trade Pact Tanzania’s relations with Brussels over the past year have been punctuated by negotiations over the EPA between the European Union and the East African Community (EAC). In November last year, Tanzania’s parliament, or Bunge, voted for the country not to sign the EPA. MPs were – and remain – concerned about the impact of the deal on domestic producers. EAC states can already export goods to the EU duty-free but this advantage would work both ways if the EPA were adopted. The EPA was supposed to have...

That’s the first part, electronically guarded and just unique as travel document go and that it will be good to go against shady deals by all sorts of people with ill-intentions visiting upon the existing passports – which, we’re told, can be manufactured from backyard printhouses. The second part is that it will also turn up roses for the public which is now only too familiar with everything electronic; so this new document will provide them, as travellers, with benefits such as use of automated border clearance or ‘E-gates’, automated issuance of boarding passes and faster travel arrangements with airlines: It couldn’t get easier, so the promise goes, purely at the tech level. At the practical human element, the importance of this new document will be important given the fact EAC bloc itself is a regional intergovernmental organisation that incorporates the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and our country, after a Treaty they acceded to in 1999. Not to beg the obvious, this unique document will undoubtedly usher in many other benefits within the bloc in terms of regional co-operation and integration and ‘empower’ the holder to enjoy doing business, research and enjoy peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that security of residence is assured wherever they may be, in other words, at home while one is away from home. Travellers within the community with the document should realise that it will boost their free movement across the East African region and facilitate implementation of the...