East African ministers will, next month, head to Beijing for the annual Africa Power and Infrastructure Forum (AIPF) where they are expected to attract more Chinese investors into financing regional projects, including the proposed multi-billion dollar standard gauge railway. In its fourth edition this year, the forum is being organised by EnergyNet, an online oil and gas auction platform, in partnership with the China-Africa Development Fund formed in 2006 to support Chinese companies to develop investment partnerships in Africa. The fund currently has some $5 billion under its management and its handlers will be offering part of the money to African countries with attractive projects that require private investor financing. According to the organisers, more than 10 project proposals will be presented during the forum which takes place from October 15-16. The forum is expected to attract several Chinese investors looking for juicy investment openings at a time when China's economy is experiencing a downturn due to structural reforms. Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya are to each send a minister to jointly market the standard gauge railway (SGR), an important infrastructure venture aimed at facilitating regional trade along the Northern Corridor. The New Times understands that East Africa's lineup in Beijing will feature Rwanda's Minister for Infrastructure James Musoni, Uganda's State Minister for Privatisation Aston Kajara and Kenya's Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich. Rwanda's Infrastructure ministry, when contacted yesterday, couldn't readily confirm whether Minister Musoni will attend the forum but Permanent Secretary Christian Rwakunda said China has already agreed in principle...

Nairobi — An estimated 4,000 Single Tourist Visas (STV) have been issued since its launch in February 2014 for Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. This represents a month-on-month improvement from an average of the 156 visas sold in the 10 months to December last year to 305 this year. Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF) Acting CEO Susan Ongalo says the improvement was due to an increased interest by members of the private sector umbrella body to participate in regional forums with a view of partnering and working with other players in member countries to develop unique East African products. "I came along with a delegation of 12 Kenyan tourism private sector players and county ministers for tourism who were keen to travel using their National Identification cards in order to better understand the process while cross-selling products within the region," Ongalo said during a tourism forum in Kigali, Rwanda, organised by East African Tourism platform (EATP). In July a report by KTF report acknowledged that a majority of regional and international travellers passing through Kenya are still unaware of the availability and process of using a Single Tourist Visa and National Identification for travel within the three countries. According to the research, up to 58.1 percent of travellers had neither used nor interacted with someone who had used STV, while 47 percent of travellers showed lack of familiarity on the existence of STV. During the forum, the East African Tourism players pledged to support and continue marketing the region as a single...

Tourism players in East Africa have pledged to support marketing of the region as a single tourist destination with a view of reaping maximum economic value from the initiative. The players say they are targeting to tap into at least 10 percent of the 140 million population in the region. An estimated 4,000 Single Tourist Visas have been issued since the launch of the Single Tourist Visa initiative in February last year. This represents a month on month improvement from an average of the 156 Visas sold in the 10 months to December last year, to 305 this year. With the Visa, foreigners can visit tourist attractions in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda on paying a fee of 100 dollars. East African Tourism platform Regional Coordinator Carmen Nibigira says there was need to package the region as one destination, celebrate flagship tourism events and find solutions to individual challenges together. Members also called for the speedy hotel classification within the East Africa region with a view of harmonising the product by next year noting that this would go a long way in ensuring services and products were of same quality across board. The three countries chose flagship products to be cross sold within the region with Kenya hosting the Magical Kenya Expo, Rwanda the Kwita Izina and Uganda, Martyrs Day. The operationalization of the single tourist visa and use of the national identity cards to travel across East African Community member states has increased trade and tourism activities due to the...

What, in your opinion, is the relevance of regional integration? Across the world different regional integration blocs have come up on the basis of different issues. But for our case (East Africa) we are looking at creating a competitive ground for all countries, especially small ones as well as allowing comparative advantage to strengthen a particular country's production capacity. Has Uganda realised any benefits from the integration? Yes! Certainly there have been benefits, especially in the area of trade. For instance, in the last 10 years Uganda has seen its trade across the region increase both in terms of volumes and quality. Trade volumes and investments by Ugandans in countries like Rwanda and Kenya have increased partly because of free movement of goods, labour and capital. How does Uganda's regional exports and imports balance sheet weigh? Of course it is an unbalanced equation. We have a lot of imports coming in and fewer exports and that is one of the challenges we are facing right now. Our exports cannot provide a buffer against currency volatility. Therefore one of our main works as Trademark East Africa is to work with government and see how we can improve our export potential. How far have you reached in regard to creati ng one-s top border posts? You have hit the nail on the head. Ours is an effort geared towards reducing the cost of trade across the region, especially on transportation of goods. We have mainly put our emphasis on improving physical access...

East Africa is emerging as a trade hub to rival sub-Saharan Africa is two heavyweight states of South Africa and Nigeria, according to analysis by Barclays published on Thursday. However the UK bank identifies five “sleeping giants” that present significant new opportunities for foreign companies; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana. This quintet which are “playing catch-up after significant political and economic upheaval . . . are increasingly attractive to foreign firms and international investors with an eye on long-term returns from fast-growing markets,” Barclays said in its inaugural Africa Trade Index. Matt Tuck, head of global corporate banking at Barclays, said the five were open to international trade and had rapidly growing populations that are likely to reach 325m in total by 2020, comparable to that of the US. Moreover, any repeat of the 7.3 per cent compound annual economic growth they have experienced over the past five years would lead to a significant rise in household spending. Most are relatively unreliant on commodity exports by African standards, shielding them from some of the storms currently battering emerging markets. “The core underlying fundamentals are getting better and with more stable government it does represent an opportunity for growth,” said Mr Tuck. “It’s a much more encouraging outlook than in the past.” Overall, Barclays found South Africa and Nigeria offered the best opportunities for foreign companies, in terms of unmet demand, the absence of major barriers to cross-border trade and their connectivity with other African countries. While South Africa is...

Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda will begin issuing a common electronic passport in November. The national non-biometric passports will be phased out over a two-year period ending in 2017. But Burundi has until close to the cut-off date to change over, as its current document already conforms to the new international standard for passports. Benon Mujuni, Principal Immigration Officer in Uganda, said the new EAC e-passport will be launched by the heads of state during their annual ordinary summit, after which the responsible regional authorities will start writing to different international bodies to ensure that it is a recognised travel document worldwide. “ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organisation] is one of the international bodies that we shall inform about the internationalisation of the EAC passport,” he said. ICAO is responsible for coming up with regulations and standards in immigration and movement of mail and live agricultural products across national borders. The EAC set an October 2015 deadline for states to have completed the process of procuring passport booklets and issuance systems for the passports. James Baba, Uganda’s Minister of State for Internal Affairs, said that Kampala, which has just started the procurement process of the systems and booklets, is focusing on a November deadline. Mr Baba added that it is important for the region to start issuing this document by November 24, 2015, because this is when the international community will require all countries to phase out all non-electronic passports. Only Burundi currently issues an electronic passport, while Rwanda has purchased...

Mistrust has emerged among the East African Community partner states over Tanzania’s commitment to the Economic Partnership Agreement that would give the region’s goods duty-free access to European markets. Tanzania is likely to delay the signing and ratification of the EPA document on the grounds that it was rushed through. Dar es Salaam has threatened not to sign the deal before its concerns on contentious issues are addressed. The region has until December 31 to sign the deal with the European Union or go back to the negotiating table. Initial document A source at the EAC Secretariat, who is privy to the matter, said Tanzania was forced to sign the initial document on the eve of October 14 after the EU threatened to withdraw its funding for agriculture under the European Development Fund (EDF). “At the time when Tanzania had refused to sign the initial document, discussions on when to release the EDF funds to member countries were ongoing in Italy. So Tanzania was given an option of either signing or forgoing the EDF funds. The same night they agreed to sign the EPA document,” said the official. READ: Relief for Kenyan exporters as Dar signs EPA document Of concern to Tanzania is liberalisation of imports from the EU where the EAC has committed to liberalise up to 82.6 per cent of all its imports from the EU. The area of concern is the export duties where the EAC partner states will not be allowed to impose new export taxes or increase existing ones unless they can justify special needs with regard to revenue, food...

The tracks for a new, faster railway linking the Mombasa to Kenya's capital Nairobi will be laid by the end of 2016 and will open for commercial traffic on target in June 2017, according to the Kenya Railways. The Chinese-financed project is the first stage in a scheme that aims to extend to Uganda and other land-locked states. The goal is to cut the cost of transport and boost trade, by replacing a narrow-gauge line that has slower top speeds. "We're ahead of schedule," Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina said in Nairobi. "There's government commitment, there's been a lot of push for land acquisition, there's been very heavy mobilisation, and the funding has gone very well." Kenya had aimed to complete 40 per cent of civil works, ranging from laying track to fixing bridges, by the end of 2015. It is now on track to complete half the work by year end. Maina said he hoped to have a private management company in place by mid-2016. A transaction adviser will be in place by the end of September to help select a private management firm for the line, Maina said, adding selection would be done by mid-2016. "The intention is that operations will be taken over by a seasoned, third-party private operator," he said. When the project was initially envisaged, the opening date was expected to be in 2018, but since then the government has given the plan a higher priority. Maina also said he hoped to begin secure...

The Ministry of East African Community Affairs (MEACA) on Tuesday launched a nationwide caravan to continue sensitizing Ugandans about the opportunities the East African Community (EAC) integration presents to them. The caravan is currently in Eastern Uganda promoting the integration agenda through activation programs that combine workshops, entertainment and one on one interactions with officials and promoters from the ministry. The Ministry with funding from TradeMark Africa recently embarked on the EAC integration mass awareness campaign in northern Uganda as a way of encouraging ordinary Ugandans to take advantage of underutilized opportunities in the region. Following the revival of the Community in the later 90s, the Heads of State and technocrats signed into action the Customs Union and Common Market protocols which were major steps towards an economic, social and political integration of the five member region. The region is mulling over signing the protocols of Monetary Union, which will put in place a regional currency, and Political federation protocol which will be the pinnacle of the regional integration. Speaking at the Karibu East Africa Community event, where the caravan was launched and stakeholders participated in a discussion led by a panel of experts, at meeting at Serena Hotel Kampala, the Minister for East African Community Affairs in Uganda Shem Bageine said the council of ministers will meet to discuss the drafting of the political federal constitution in November. The Customs Union and Common Market opened up the region to free movement of goods, service and persons. The two protocols...

Mistrust has emerged among the East African Community partner states over Tanzania's commitment to the Economic Partnership Agreement that would give the region's goods duty-free access to European markets. Tanzania is likely to delay the signing and ratification of the EPA document on the grounds that it was rushed through. Dar es Salaam has threatened not to sign the deal before its concerns on contentious issues are addressed. The region has until December 31 to sign the deal with the European Union or go back to the negotiating table. Initial document A source at the EAC Secretariat, who is privy to the matter, said Tanzania was forced to sign the initial document on the eve of October 14 after the EU threatened to withdraw its funding for agriculture under the European Development Fund (EDF). "At the time when Tanzania had refused to sign the initial document, discussions on when to release the EDF funds to member countries were ongoing in Italy. So Tanzania was given an option of either signing or forgoing the EDF funds. The same night they agreed to sign the EPA document," said the official. Source: The East African