TradeMark Africa has allocated Sh1.02 billion for the implementation of a WTO-backed trade improvement programme for the East African Community partner states. The World Trade Organisation Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO FTA) focuses on ways of transporting, releasing and clearing goods and compels countries to ensure that trade concerns including taxes, documentation procedures along their transport corridors and ports are completely abolished. The pact is expected to reduce the cost of doing business and complement current efforts of eradicating trade barriers in the region. The agreement was arrived at during the 2013 WTO ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, where various decisions — aimed at making trade among the agency’s member states easy — were made. The decisions will also ensure food security and boost trade and overall development.“We have set aside Sh1.02 billion ($10 million) to go towards various projects that will help in implementation of the agreement which is meant to facilitate trade among East Africa partner states,” said TradeMark Africa chief executive Frank Matsaert. Matsaert revealed the figure stating that there was a need for countries to work together in getting rid of barriers that negatively affected trade in the region. Implementation of the agreement is expected to start before the 10th WTO Ministerial conference in mid-December in Nairobi. The conference takes place every two years and brings together member countries and custom unions. Members make decision by consensus. is expected that the cost of doing business between the EAC member states and other markets would reduce by almost...

Kampala. Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and Netherlands Ambassador to Uganda Alphons Hennekens will today officiate at a two-day regional symposium on ‘Scaling Social Business in East Africa’ at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala. The symposium seeks to provide a platform for addressing key development and insights regarding social entrepreneurship and impact investments in the region. Key sectors of the economy that will top the agenda include agriculture, which employs over 60 per cent of the labour force in the region, education and energy. “It will facilitate the sharing of practical examples and insights on the strong alignment between development objectives and business interests and identify examples of innovative collaborations from the region,” reads part a statement sent to this newspaper. The symposium is hosted by Ka Tutandike Trust UK, and International Citizen Service (ICS) in partnership with Kulika Uganda, Acumen East Africa, USAID, Yunus Social Business Foundation, Growth Africa, Open Capital, Ka Tutandike Uganda, Aga Khan Development Network, Business Fights Poverty, EDUCATE, Unreasonable East Africa, Ashoka East Africa and Trade Mark East Africa, all non-government organisations. “This regional symposium aims to provide a vital platform for addressing key development and insights regarding social entrepreneurship and impact investing in East Africa,” the statements further reads According to the statement, experts will also give special attention and examine how social enterprises can attract timely and sufficient funding to grow the region. Source: Daily Monitor

Implementing the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) could increase the value of global exports by up to $1 trillion a year, according to a study. The report is the first detailed study by the WTO into the potential effects of the TFA, which aims to standardise, streamline and speed up customs processes around the world. The WTO said “fuller, faster” implementation of the agreement would increase the value generated and the TFA could result in a 0.5 per cent boost to global annual GDP. The report said developing countries would benefit most from the TFA and they are expected to enter 30 per cent more foreign markets as a result of the agreement, with a 20 per cent increase in the number of new products exported. The WTO said the agreement would help firms in developing countries enter supply chains because “timeliness and predictability in the delivery of intermediate goods are essential to the successful management of global value chains”. The report said the TFA would reduce trade costs among members by an average of 14.5 per cent and cut the risk of corruption. “There is evidence to show that the likelihood to engage in fraudulent practices at the border is higher the longer the time needed to clear goods,” said the report.“By simplifying trade procedures and reducing the time to move goods across borders, the TFA will increase the volume of goods flowing through customs, reduce the scope for corruption and increase the amount of revenues...

The Northern Corridor has registered a general decline in transport costs while the Central Corridor shows a steady but marginal increase in the past five years. According to the 2015 East Africa Logistics Performance Survey, the cost of transport from the port of Dar es Salaam to the landlocked countries of East Africa is twice higher than that from the port of Mombasa to the neighbouring EAC countries. “The average transport cost from Mombasa to Kampala came down from $3,400 in 2011 to $2,500 in 2015, while the rates from Dar-es-Salaam to Kampala have increased from $2,507 in 2011 to $4,500 in 2015,” says the report. Gilbert Langat, chief executive officer at the Kenya Shippers Council, noted that the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya saw many shippers and cargo traders shift to the port of Dar es Salaam due to the losses they incurred during this period. This lasted till 2012, when Kenya was going through election campaigns again. “Many shippers and cargo traders were not sure of the outcome of the Kenyan elections during 2012 period and preferred to ship their goods through the Dar port. So the Dar port saw an increase in cargo clearance, and transport on the Central Corridor also improved,” said Mr Langat. “But after the 2013 elections, with President Uhuru Kenyatta and his counterparts Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda focused on improving business at the port of Mombasa and the Northern Corridor, the cost of cargo clearance dropped.” The focus...

Four Burundi citizens and a similar number of Kenyans are in the race to succeed Dr Richard Sezibera when his term as Secretary-General of the East African Community ends early next year. Although it is Burundi’s turn to nominate a citizen to the position, the insecurity in the country could prove a hindrance, hence the Kenyans’ decision to wait in the wings. The SG’s post is rotational and the occupant of the seat is chosen by the head of state of the appointing country. Burundi’s contestants are Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Nyamitwe; former EAC deputy SG - productive and social sector Jean Claude Nsengiyumva; EAC Deputy SG - Finance and Administration Libérat Mfumukeko; and the country’s East African Legislative Assembly MP Hafsa Mossi, a former journalist. The Kenyans said to be lobbying for the position are Abdirahin Abdi, the former EALA speaker; Peter Kiguta, the EAC Director-General of Customs & Trade; EAC Deputy SG Charles Njoroge; and Joseph Nyagah, national co-ordinator for the Northern Corridor Integration Project and a former Cabinet minister. It is expected that the new secretary-general will be sworn in at the EAC Ordinary Heads of State Summit in Dar es Salaam in February and not in April as earlier thought. “The summit that was to be held this month (November 30) has been pushed to February next year to allow Tanzania’s new government under the new president John Magufuli to settle into office,” said a source privy to the arrangements. “Thus it is better for the presidents to have a new secretary-general sworn...

(Seychelles News Agency) - In spite of being small in size compared to other African countries, Seychelles an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean is aiming to become the hub for trade between African countries. The island nation wants to emulate countries like Singapore which is today the centre in Asia for trading in commodities globally. After taking steps to promote the blue economy concept on the international scene, Seychelles is now looking at bringing African nations together through trade. Speaking to the press at a meeting dubbed the ‘African Prosperity conference’ that is being hosted by the island nation since Tuesday, the Chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (SCCI) Marco Francis called for greater partnership between African nations. "I have travelled to many parts of Africa. Africa has some very good structures to do business. African businessmen have the same vision as we do, they want to do business and they want to expand. Let’s partner together.” Francis noted that today trade between African countries stands at only 16 percent while the majority of the continent’s imports are from European and Asian countries. As part of efforts to boost regional trade, leaders from 26 African countries joined together in June this year to sign an ambitious declaration in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to establish a wide-reaching free-trade zone across almost the entire eastern half of the African continent. The Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA), which incorporates member countries from the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for...

In preparation for the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which is scheduled to take place in Nairobi-Kenya from 15-18 December 2015, the African Union held a Meeting of Trade Ministers on 20th July 2015 in Nairobi-Kenya. During the deliberations, the AU Ministers were unanimous in reaffirming the strategic objectives for an African Trade Policy, which should be based on Africa’s industrialization in order to achieve the structural transformation of African economies. The Conference was addressed by a distinguished cadre of personalities including H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, H.E. Mr. Mukhisa Khituyi, the UNCTAD Secretary General, Mr. David Shark, WTO Deputy Director General and, Mrs. Dorothy Tembo, Deputy Exeutive Director of the International Trade Center. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Ambassador (Dr.) Amina C. Mohamed, the Kenya Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade. During the meeting, the Ghana Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Dr. Ekwow Spio –Garbrah as is customary with his reputed leadership demeanor which excels on clear strategic vision, advocated the setting up of an unprecedented “African Trade Information Sharing Portal to boost trade and investment ties between African countries”. For a full decade and for most of the time as his Chairman, I have witnessed Minister Dr. Spio-Garbrah’s highly acclaimed professional work in the area of ICT and telecommunications during his term of office as the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization. It was, therefore, of no surprise that he has opted to tap his...

The East African Community (EAC) countries are leveraging on a single online visa to help increase tourist arrivals in the region, Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto has said. Ruto told a tourism conference in Nairobi that Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, which had launched a single visa initiative earlier this year, were leveraging on technology to remove hurdles in the promotion of tourism in the region. "We are leveraging on technology to market the region as a single destination with diverse tourist attractions, and I assure our visitors that we will make it worthy their while," he said when he officiated at the opening of the 40th Conference of the Africa Travel Association (ATA). Ruto noted that the decision to issue a single visa for visitors coming to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda was a milestone in promoting the three countries as a single tourism destination. The lack of a regional common visa has been a major drawback towards marketing East Africa as a single tourist destination. Foreign tour operators had complained of cumbersome immigration procedures at border entry points for those who wish to cover various circuits in East Africa. Sources said the five East African Community countries, which also include Burundi and Tanzania, are also in the final stages of implementing a single visa. Ruto said that efforts put into the promotion of tourism in Kenya were bearing fruit, with tourist arrivals in the country hitting 1.13 million last year, up 5 percent year on year. Source: Coast Week

Despite popular opinion, Africa has been very active on the international trading stage, though results have been disappointing. At the ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia in 2013, African countries failed to push for their needs. After progress and losses, what is the place of Africa in the multilateral trading system as the continent heads into the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi, Kenya?
 As the world is rushing towards regional and mega-regional trade agreements, it is necessary to review the place and role of the African continent in all of its evolutions. These have already transformed international trade relations and set the next boundaries of the global economic governance system. Africa’s place in the multilateral trading system has often received special attention, even though ithas mostly focused on the contextual and factual analysis of the weakness of the continent’s contribution to global commercial transactions or the vagaries of the participation of African states in trade negotiations. There has been more than enough criticism suggesting that Africa is not making sufficient effort to take part in international trade. On the contrary, African countries merit a spotlight on their significant progress to open up to trade. A continent that has come a long way Africa’s place in the international trading system has often been simplified to a single statistic: less than 2 percent of international trade. The analyses that support the theory that African countries barely participate in international trade are mostly based on a quantitative approach. However, such a static approach hides...

KAMPALA. Kampala City Traders’ Association (Kacita) has called for a shutdown of businesses starting next Wednesday protesting a directive by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to imprison importers who undervalue or falsely declare imports. 
In a meeting held in Kampala yesterday, the traders protested the directive saying many times the said faults are a result of “mistakes” and that the tax body resorting to imprisonment of their members, will wash away the current good relations between the tax payers and the collectors. “The traders are not against paying taxes but you cannot arrest someone for undervaluing as a first resort yet sometimes it is by mistake,” Mr Everisto Kayondo, the association chairperson, said yesterday in Kampala.
He added: “We have called for a meeting with URA but in vain. So far, five members have been arrested and are out of prison.” 
The traders concerns come at a time when URA is struggling to meet revenue targets.
In collection statistics released last week, the revenue body collected Shs2.46 trillion in the first three months of the financial year from July 2015, short of the Shs2.5 trillion targets over the same period. Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, URA spokesperson Sarah Banage confirmed that URA had indeed issued the directive and is waiting on the traders to bring their position on the matter for discussion.
To avert a repeat of 2013 where traders closed businesses over Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme (PIVOC) after it become clear counterfeits and substandard products had become a menace, traders...