GULU, UGANDA - Ugandans should take advantage of the East African Community integration to do more cross border trade, the undersecretary in the Ministry for East African Affairs has said. Daniel Mugulusi said it is now easier to do trade among regional countries since Ugandans only require a national identity card to be able to access markets in neighbouring countries. “Our neighbours have taken advantage of the East African integration and have set up businesses here. You too can do the same. For instance it is now easier to sell maize in Kenya than it was a decade ago,” Mugulusi said at an EAC awareness campaign dubbed Karibu East Africa. The campaign is spearheaded by the Ministry of East African Community Affairs (MEACA) with the support from Trademark East Africa. In a report released by Bank of Uganda and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics following a survey commissioned in 2012 on informal cross border trade, Uganda’s formal export earnings to EAC countries increased by 9.2 per cent to US$2,356 from US$2,159.1 in 2011, while informal exports amounted to US$ 453.7 million, representing a 27.5 percent increase compared to 2011when it amounted to 355.8 million. According to the report, the highest growth of informal exports was to Tanzania which grew by 64.5 per cent, followed by exports to South Sudan which grew by 37.4 per cent. Rwanda and Kenya registered the least growth of 8.6 per cent increase and 15.1 per cent respectively. Uganda imports most informal goods from Kenya which...

TradeEMark East Africa (TMA) has won the world's most prestigious corporate procurement certification from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), making it the first organisation in the region to clinch the award. Speaking at a brief awarding ceremony, the TMA Chief Executive Officer, Mr Frank Matsaert, said the institution was proud to win the award as it speaks loudly of their dedication to maintain the highest standards in procurement amidst some challenges. "We at TMA are very proud to receive the certification. It acknowledges our efforts to maintain the standards and principles of transparency and good governance in procurement," he said at the function also attended by the Vice Chairman of TMA's Board of Directors, Mr Tim Lamont and CIPS Managing Director, Mr Andre Coetzee. Mr Matsaert said the award served as another proof that TMA was adhering to the highest standards in procurement and was maintaining the principles of probity, transparency, consistence and fairness as a benchmark of good management. "We are trying to be change makers. We help to enhance growth and prosperity to our partners. That is what we do and we're very passionate about that," he said. TMA had always strived to achieve top excellence in procurement and make both efficient and effective to provide the real value for money. "This shows the region and to our stakeholders and partners that that we are serious in doing the right thing and we do it well." The CIPS Managing Director, Mr Andre Coetzee, said although...

(MENAFN Press) TradeMark Africa (TMA) today announced the appointment a new Board of Directors. This follows successful completion of a rigorous appointment process of highly-experienced East African nationals. Chaired by Tanzanian entrepreneur Ali Mufuruki, the new Board comprises leading business and civil society professionals in East Africa. Former World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy joins the Board as Special Advisor. In 2013, TMA embarked on a process of developing its governance arrangements. TMA's investors assume a shareholder role with a day to day oversight of the organisation undertaken by the independent Board. The appointment of the Board members is a strong endorsement of TMA as an inclusive and results driven organisation whose key mandate is to increase prosperity in East Africa. TMA funding has grown to a US700m budget since its inception in 2010 with presence in all EAC Partner States and South Sudan. "I am proud to welcome such an experienced pool of industry professionals to the board of TradeMark Africa," said Ali Mufuruki, Board Chairman of TMA. "We conducted an exhaustive search for individuals who have proven track records in their respective professions, and are delighted to have identified such outstanding individuals. These board members who comprise professionals from both government, donor institutions and the private sector, bring extensive international and regional expertise in the development sector, executive management and the donor community to TMA." TMA Chief Executive Officer Frank Matsaert, concurred, "We are delighted to welcome the new board members. The board's composition is a...

JOHANNESBURG/DAKAR — A fresh US trade pact could provide relief to African economies buffeted by the commodities slump, but a failure to reform during the boom years has left many countries unable to profit from tariff-free access to the world’s largest market. In an effort to boost trade under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), renewed by Congress for a decade in June, representatives from 39 African countries will hold talks with US officials in oil-rich Gabon this week. Under the deal, first signed in 2000, African exports to the US rose to $26.8bn by 2013, but more than four-fifths of that was oil. With US demand for petroleum imports falling due to its shale revolution and commodities prices across the board hit by China’s slowdown, the blow to African economies has highlighted their failure to industrialise. The World Bank forecasts gross domestic product (GDP) growth in sub-Saharan Africa will slow this year to 4.2%, down from an average of 6.4% during 2002 to 2008. Despite a decade of rapid growth, sub-Saharan Africa’s manufacturing sector remained weak. While exports from the region more than quadrupled to $457bn in the decade to 2011, manufactured goods made up just $58bn of that. US officials say that, even with tariff-free access, a range of problems is holding back African exports, from poor transport links to costly electricity, lack of bank credit, corruption and labyrinthine bureaucracy. "When you look at a container of coffee or textiles coming out of Africa, it is substantially...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- East African countries have resolved to advance regional tourism cooperation to help unlock potential in the region. UN World Tourism Organisation (UN WTO) said in a statement received on Wednesday following the conclusion of the three-day meeting in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa that ministers and representatives from East Africa and the Vanilla Islands also outlined the East African tourism agenda. "The Agenda will include agreements on regional priorities and concrete actions for cooperation," said the statement. In an effort to unlock the tourism potential of East Africa, the first UNWTO East Africa Tourism Development Forum gathered regional tourism leaders and stakeholders to identify opportunities to maximize sustainable tourism development through regional collaboration. Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto, who officially opened the conference last Friday, said tourism is a critical component of the East African economy and an important part of the region’s common destiny. "Our biggest challenge is to work together to improve every aspect of the experience we offer to our visitors, from their arrival at the airport, their movement within and across our countries, the accommodation and facilities that we offer, and the affordability across all income brackets," he said. UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said the UN tourism agency maintains great confidence in the East African Community’s ability to position itself as a leading tourism destination, by delivering one compelling, highly competitive offering. "I wish to welcome the recent introduction of the East Africa Tourist Visa, which allows travel between Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda,...

Trade between East Africa and China is expected to boom over the next five years despite a slowdown in the world's second largest economy, IHS said on Wednesday. Trade between East Africa and China is expected to increase by 91% by 2020, according Krispen Atkinson, principal analyst at IHS Maritime & Trade. "It's all around manufactured goods. East Africa is becoming a new hub for the Chinese," he said. IHS's projections came as the Chinese market experienced extreme market volatility since a huge debt-fuelled rally, which saw the market rise 150% in 12 months, collapse in mid-June. The Chinese leadership has made public its commitment to develop infrastructure and to promote regional integration in East Africa, according to Atkinson. The highest growth areas are expected to incorporate Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. IHS risk analyst, Natznet Tesfay, foresees that China's relationship with East Africa will change in the coming years. According to Tesfay the current focus is on importing raw materials and exporting manufactured goods. But, Tesfay added, Chinese investments in regional interconnectivity will enable it to take advantage of comparatively lower operational costs. Another spin-off will include the increased capacity of onshore manufacturing activity in the region, Tesfay said. Trade from China and Southeast Asia to North America and Europe is also expected to boom in the next five years, according to the analysis. Atkinson said, however, that the increases would not be the double-digit rises seen before the 2008 global economic crisis. "However, an increase of over 30%...

Nairobi - Power lines connecting the east African states of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia are expected to be completed within the next three years, helping improve supplies and power trading, a senior Kenyan official said on Thursday. Power shortages are common across Africa and businesses often complain that poor or erratic supplies deter more investors and push up prices of local products, as many firms rely on costly generators. Linking up national grids would provide a bigger pool of resources and mean one state can tap idle supplies in another. A high voltage line between Ethiopia and Kenya will be ready in 2017, a Kenya-Uganda link will be complete by the end of 2016, and a Kenya-Tanzania connection will be working in 2018, said Joseph Njoroge, principal secretary at Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Ministry. The Kenya-Ethiopia link will be a 500 kilovolt (kV) line, while the lines to Uganda and Tanzania will be 400 kV. The line to Uganda would then connect Rwanda and Burundi. All the states, except for Ethiopia, are part of the East African Community trade bloc. “In another two to three years, we should be having interconnections of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania,” Njoroge told a regional power conference. “The regional power interconnection project is a very critical solution,” he said. Kenya, which relies heavily on hydro power, geothermal and other renewables, aims to expand installed capacity to 6 700 mega watts (MW) by 2017, from about 2 500 MW currently, and cut...

Trade Mark East Africa has received the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply certification, becoming the first East Africa organisation to receive the accreditation. Globally, only 128 companies hold the certification given for the highest possible international standards in procurement and supply chain policies and procedures. West African based Africa Development Bank, is the only organisation in Africa with a similar accreditation, making Trade Mark the second. The certification came after a nine month evaluation which commenced last September and was concluded in May. TMA chief executive Frank Matsaert said the organisation will be expected to heighten transparency in its procurement and supply processes as required by the accreditation. He said the regional body currently handles a laarger budget and serves a wider regional population compared to five years ago. “When we began, our staff consisted of only two people. Now I have a team of more than 150 that is handling a budget of $300 million (Sh31 billion),” he said yesterday in Nairobi. He spoke when TMA received the certificate from CIPS Africa managing director Andre Coetzee in Nairobi. Coetzee said transparent and efficient procurement processes will seal bribery and corruption loopholes. “This brings value to those doing business especially the small and medium enterprises.” He said the world loses over a trillion dollars to corruption as a result of poor procurement processes with Africa contributing a significant amount. Source: The Star

Regional integration and cooperation is the way forward in Africa as there are many regional externalities that can only be addressed through regional cooperation. Regional integration is also good politics as trade-creating exchange increases the opportunity cost of conflict. The Tripartite FTA (TFTA) and the proposed Continental FTA (CFTA) are the latest African initiatives towards regional cooperation. To succeed, these have to confront a very uneven distribution of resources that have sharpened the trade-off between the benefits of common policies needed to tackle cross-border externalities and their costs which are heightened by the sharp differences in policy preferences across members. Abandoning the linear model of integration and integrating in small groups should help. Following the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) common external tariff (CET) in January 2015, this June saw the launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area among 26 countries, accounting for over half of Africa’s GDP and, with 632 million people, 56 percent of the continental population. A Continental FTA is also to be launched in or around 2017. Phase I of the TFTA suggests modest efforts at integration as it is built on the principles of variable geometry eschewing a more ambitious “single undertaking” and the acquis (go forward but not backwards) with modest tariff reductions on the table, a list (rather than an economy-wide criterion) for rules of origin, trade remedies to address dumping, and import surges. The agenda for phase II is to be decided but should include services and...

Last month, I attended the African Leadership Forum in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam on the theme of "Moving Towards An Integrated Africa." The meeting was hosted by former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa's Uongozi Institute, and attended by former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), Festus Mogae (Botswana), Jerry Rawlings (Ghana), Bakili Muluzi (Malawi), and Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia). The Executive Secretaries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) were also present, as were invited civil society actors. Delivering the keynote address was Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, who has long fancied himself as a "Bismarck of East Africa", with dreams of creating a political federation in a subregion consisting also of Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. These aspirations were reflected in his address which pushed for a larger regional market in East Africa to increase the leverage of the subregion to negotiate more effectively with external actors. Citing the high level of cultural integration in the subregion - reinforced by the common lingua franca of Swahili - he called for a political union, noting that for such efforts to succeed, East African leaders would need to explain to their 140 million citizens how regional integration could directly enhance their prosperity and security. I had the opportunity, from the audience, to challenge president Museveni - who has been in power for 29 years - on the issue of presidential term limits, noting that on assuming office in 1986, he had criticised African leaders for overstaying in...