Kampala. Job creation and transfer of technology must be part of the outcome of the negotiation between the EAC countries and the US, an analyst has cautioned. Currently, EAC member states are developing a regional negotiation model which will be used to engage the US on matters pertaining to trade and investment within the region as well as enhancing trade between the two parties. Generally, the EAC-US Trade and Investment Partnership is an initiative that seeks to support the EAC economic integration as well as enhancing the EAC-US trade and investment relationship. According to Mr Francis Mangeni, a trade analyst and the director of trade customs and monetary affairs at Comesa, the five EAC member states, among them Uganda, must ensure that the agreement has a provision that regulates the entry of investors into the country. Mr Mangeni said investors should come here (in EAC) not on their terms but according to the conditions of the regional governments. Without such restriction some investors, he said, could end up messing the country then pack their bags and walk away the way they came in- scot free. Mr Mangeni was speaking last week in Entebbe during a regional stakeholders consultative meeting. The Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (Seatini) country director, Jane Nalunga, said: “We must know what we want and always negotiate on the basis of what we want—and not from the point of weakness.” Efforts—facilitating local trade. “In negotiations there is a need for strategy. And those...

The East African Community (EAC), an inter-governmental organisation comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania, is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the US to eliminate the fear of unilateral withdrawal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the US government. EAC believes the limitation of AGOA is that it is unilateral and can be withdrawn any time. This year the US extended the AGOA up to September 30, 2025, but the EAC thinks that this span of 10 years is insufficient for increasing trade volume by leaps and bounds. Hence, the EAC recently submitted its plea to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modus operandi and the time to begin negotiations on the pact, according to African media reports. The community of five members seeks a trade partnership similar to the one it shares with EU, which provides protection against undue competition. EAC also believes that it has not been able to utilise the US quota-free market under AGOA since the agreement does not match the World Trade Organization's structure for free trade agreements due to its 10-years duration of operations. The long-term trade agreement, which EAC is pushing for will include services and foreign investment for matters concerning development, apart from those required for trade in goods. Trade between the EAC countries and the US was worth $2.8 billion in 2014, with US exports to EAC being $2 billion, and imports from the region amounting to $743 million. (HO) Source: Fibre2Fashhion.com

East African countries should always do impact assessments and look out for rewards in each agreement they negotiate with their partners, trade experts have said. Dr Francis Mangeni, the director of Trade Customs and Monetary Affairs, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), says EAC countries ought to negotiate from a point of strength, stating the performance requirements and sequencing of bargaining conditions. “Before you go into these negotiations, you need to prepare and do your homework. This will tell you how to structure your plans,” he said during a regional stakeholder consultative meeting. The workshop was held under the theme of Promoting pro-development investment policies and agreements in the EAC, and was organised by SEATINI Uganda with support from Diakonia, a development organisation. A performance requirement refers to things that tell an investor what a country’s priorities are. Sequencing bargaining is a condition where investors are given preferential treatment according to a country’s national laws. While presenting a paper on investment and sustainable development in regional integration within the EAC community, Mangeni said: “Before an investor enters into a country, he or she should be subjected to performance requirements. There is no country on earth that gives anyone a right of entry into their country for the sake.” Ambassador Nathan Irumba, the SEATINI executive director, said thinking long-term as opposed to short-term investment will add value to the country. “There is a quest for investments in the partner states, but the question is can we have the right...

EAST African manufacturers have raised concern over lack of standards in some cosmetic products which they say is negatively impacting on sales. The East African Community (EAC) manufacturers observed that the products without standards cannot compete favourably on the international markets. Simpson Birungi, managing director at Movit Cosmetics said since many products have no standards to benchmark on for quality assurance, their products are being shunned in other countries. "We need to all adopt specific standards from European Union to enable us trade and remain competitive. This will enable us generate more revenue since our products' geographical supply chain will not be limited to only EAC states," explained Birungi Birungi was recently making a presentation at Speke Hotel, Munyonyo on the key non-tariff barriers during the East Africa's manufacturer's summit. The summit attracted the manufacturing industries with the goal of developing the element of challenges facing manufacturer's across EAC member states. Top on the agenda that manufacturers also noted was the bureaucratic multiple testing of the products in adherence to quality. They cited how products are tested at many points and after having passed the test, the same products are again subjected to other tests. "We feel this is becoming more bureaucratic and time wasting as we transport our commodities to different markets. If possible, let us harmonious the East African standards body to conform to one form of tests," said Birungi According to the East African protocol, once a product has the Q mark, it means it is granted...

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the country sold goods worth Sh36 billion to Uganda in the period to July, up from Sh27.7 billion in a similar period last year. Exports to Uganda — the largest buyer of Kenyan goods — have been declining since 2011 on what experts attributed to a vibrant manufacturing sector in Kampala and local firms opening shop in the neighbouring country. The drop defied the creation of the East African Community (EAC) common market in 2010, which was expected to boost commerce among five member states, including Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Uganda has been Kenya’s top importer since 2007. The UK, which has ruled the exports table for a long time, comes a distant second after Kenya bought goods worth Sh22.1 billion from its former colonial master, up from Sh21.3 billion in the first seven months of last year. Goods to Tanzania were valued at Sh14.9 billion, down from Sh20.7 billion in the seven months to July 2014. Kenyan sales to Tanzania included medicines, soap, polish, sweets and snacks (sugar confectionery) and construction materials. Tanzania has previously been accused of putting non-trade barriers on Kenyans including delay of work permits. Kenyan companies operating in the country have also complained of being treated harshly by unfriendly authorities and slow licensing. Earlier this year, the two countries were involved in a trade row following a ban on Kenyan tour vans from accessing Tanzanian parks. Kenya reciprocated by barring Dar tour vehicles from Nairobi’s...

ARUSHA, Tanzania - Relations between India and the East African Community are set to be revitalized especially in the areas of trade, cultural exchange and development cooperation.  India’s High Commissioner to Tanzania and Representative to the EAC, Mr. Sandeep Arya, said his country was keen on strengthening trade and cultural ties with the EAC which date back several centuries. Mr. Arya said India already had bilateral projects in most of the EAC Partner States particularly health and agriculture, adding that they wanted to partner with the EAC to boost trade volumes and promoting industrial growth in East Africa. Mr. Arya said he would work closely with the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Indian Exim Bank in these initiatives, noting that these partnerships should for a start be between these two institutions and the East African Development Bank and the East African Business Council. Mr. Arya was speaking after presenting his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania. Dr. Sezibera thanked India for its support to the Partner States singling out the scholarships granted to students from the Partner States to study in India. Dr. Sezibera also cited the support granted to the Community by India in the preparation of the East African Railways Master Plan the implementation of which he said would revolutionize the transport sector in the region. He disclosed that  one of the challenges faced by the EAC in relation to the free movement of goods across...

The cost of importing goods into the East African Community through the Single Customs Territory (SCT) will go down under a new, reduced import insurance rate. Under the amended EAC Customs Management Act 2010, all partner states will charge a cost insurance freight rate of one per cent on all imported goods under SCT, down from the initial 1.5 per cent and above. “For purposes of computing the Customs value, where no insurance is ascertainable, the price paid is to be increased by the national charge for insurance, which should be taken as 1 per cent of CIF for imported goods,” said the EAC ministers. The EAC partner states charge different import declaration fees. In Kenya, it is 2.25 per cent of the CIF value; in Rwanda it is 5 per cent and Uganda 6 per cent. The East African Legislative Assembly recently adopted an amendment to the EAC Customs Management Act that will enable persons intending to import goods to write to the commissioner for advance rulings on either tariff classification, rules of origin or Customs valuation. In the past, EAC importers and revenue authorities have disagreed on the tariff code under which an item should be classified and the Customs value that an item should be accorded. Import insurance rate “The Customs valuation should be based on the actual price of the goods being imported, which is indicated on the invoice, especially on goods like cars,” said Kenya Shippers Council chief executive Gilbert Langat. Mr Langat said that...

East African Community members have pulled out of a proposed regional power sharing pool to avoid duplicating the intentions of a bigger initiative. The five EAC countries have since 2003 been interconnecting their power lines to improve supply, stabilise access and foster trading in electricity across national borders. The EAC’s senior energy officer Peter Kinuthia said the EAC member states also belonged to the wider Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) under which the EAC Power Pool falls. EAPP is meant to link up nine countries by 2018. The overlap would not make investment sense as member states are required to contribute to each initiative. This means that the five countries will have their power lines connected to the larger power pool, whose headquarters will be in Addis Ababa. Four other countries —Egypt, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan — are members of the wider pool. Mr Kinuthia said the experience of EAPP has shown that contributions from member states and member utilities are not sufficient to cover the recurrent and development budget.  As a result, resources have to be mobilised from development partners. EACPP would face a similar scenario; besides, it would be approaching the same development partners currently supporting EAPP. Under the Tripartite Free Trade arrangement, a regional power market linking EAPP and the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) is envisaged. It is estimated that about a quarter of electricity generated in EAPP countries comes from hydropower with future investments creating a greater dependence on the resource. “Linking up...

Relations between the East African Community (EAC) and India are set to get better especially in the areas of trade, cultural exchange and development cooperation, following a new commitment. The India High Commissioner to Tanzania and representative to the EAC, Sandeep Arya, said his country was keen on strengthening trade and cultural ties with the five-member regional bloc which date back several centuries. Arya was speaking after presenting his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, on Tuesday. In a statement, the Indian envoy said his country already had bilateral projects in most of the EAC Partner States particularly in health and agriculture, adding that they wanted to partner with the EAC to boost trade volumes and promote industrial growth in East Africa. Arya promised to work closely with the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Indian Exim Bank in these initiatives, noting that these partnerships should for a start be between these two institutions and the East African Development Bank (EADB) and the East African Business Council (EABC). Dr Sezibera thanked the vast South Asian country for its support to the Partner States, singling out the scholarships granted to students from the Partner States to study in India. He also cited the support granted to the Community by India in the preparation of the East African Railways Master Plan the implementation of which he said would revolutionise the transport sector in the region. India's Exim Bank has extended Lines of Credit...

ARUSHA, Tanzania, 22 September 2015 / PRN Africa / — Relations between India and the East African Community are set to be revitalized especially in the areas of trade, cultural exchange and development cooperation. India's High Commissioner to Tanzania and Representative to the EAC, Mr. Sandeep Arya, said his country was keen on strengthening trade and cultural ties with the EAC which date back several centuries. Mr. Arya said India already had bilateral projects in most of the EAC Partner States particularly health and agriculture, adding that they wanted to partner with the EAC to boost trade volumes and promoting industrial growth in East Africa. Mr. Arya said he would work closely with the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Indian Exim Bank in these initiatives, noting that these partnerships should for a start be between these two institutions and the East African Development Bank and the East African Business Council. Mr. Arya was speaking after presenting his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania. Dr. Sezibera thanked India for its support to the Partner States singling out the scholarships granted to students from the Partner States to study in India. Dr. Sezibera also cited the support granted to the Community by India in the preparation of the East African Railways Master Plan the implementation of which he said would revolutionize the transport sector in the region. He disclosed that that one of the challenges faced by the EAC in...