Arusha — East African Community (EAC) Secretariat staff have been advised to cut out unnecessary travel. In the run-up to the 2015/16 budget being passed last week, a report of the General Purpose Committee (GPC), presented by the Chair Dr. Odette Nyiramilimo suggested the need to further curtail excess travel and enhance implementation of the decisions and directives of the Council of Ministers. Consequently the Committee called for more Video Conferencing and that all departments within the EAC should adjust their budgets to reflect the same. In its report the Committee also expressed concerns that the social sectors at the EAC have been chronically underfunded over time. Committee members called for the re-allocation to the extent possible in order to restore some activities of the sector to allow for their effective implementation. The GPC also wants an overall strengthening of EAC Sensitisation policy and the requisite prioritization in funding. "While the Committee has previously recommended strengthening of the Corporate Communications Department to be able to spearhead the process, the Committee is of the view that efforts have to be enhanced and funding increased to facilitate Organs and Institutions to optimally participate both jointly and as entities, in the sensitization of East Africans," a section of the report reads. Dr Nyiramilimo also calls for improvement of the conditions of service and emoluments of the EAC Staff to make the Institution more competitive and to retain the best caliber of staff. The Committee raises concern over the impending high number of staff...

Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have reaffirmed their commitment in the fight against Genocide during a ministerial meeting of peace and security cluster for the Northern Corridor Integrated Projects (NCIP). The meeting directed that member states designate April 7 as a day to join Rwandans in commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi which claimed more than one million innocent lives. This was one of the resolutions adopted on May 22 in Nairobi, Kenya, in a meeting chaired by Rwanda's Minister for Internal Security, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harerimana. South Sudan attended as an observer. The meeting that was also attended by the Inspector General of Rwanda National Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana, was convened to review the progress of the implementation of the 'Mutual Peace and Security Pact.' The meeting also directed that member states will have to take measures to domesticate all relevant international legal instruments related to genocide prevention. Prevention of Genocide is among the key areas of cooperation under the pact. Others include conflict prevention, management and resolution, combating terrorism and suppressing piracy. In his opening remarks, Harerimana noted that the region was currently confronted with serious security threats like terrorism, trafficking in persons, piracy and cyber crimes. "The meeting on peace and security is timely to collectively identify strategies to ensure rapid response as directed by Heads of State," he said. In line with responding to threats posed by terrorism, bloc members resolved to fast-track the implementation of the decisions of the East African Community Chiefs of...

Agriculture accounts for 30% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of EA and it employs over 60% of the population of East Africa. In East Africa, it is reported to have annual value of $50b and this represents a 75% of the Agricultural products being traded from the commodities like maize, rice, potatoes, cassava, beans, wheat among others. Agricultural performance is critically important to pro-poor growth since it employs over 75% of EAC member population, where the majority of them live in rural settings. The sector provides a basis for improvement of livelihoods in both rural and urban populations. Despite the importance of the sector to the EAC economies, reviews of public expenditures and programmes that was recently conducted by Civil Society Budget group and other partners like Action Aid, Uganda Debt Network, Food Rights Alliance and ESAFF, indicates that, the input and output from Agriculture has continuously kept declining where inputs being the lowest in the sectors of the economy and is registered being below the National Development Plan target of 4.9% for the case of Uganda. Besides the decline in the East Africa member states with an exception of Rwanda have not prioritised Agriculture in their public spending to the extent that the sector receives less than 4% of the national budgets. This, therefore, calls for the Government and other partners to ensure that there is increased public financing for the sector in East Africa and need to invest more in Agriculture to better support the economies. The...

"Egypt seeks increasing the volume of its exports to the African Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) to $5 billion in the next three years, compared to $2.7 billion in 2013," said Egypt’s Industry’s Minister. AFTZ includes the three biggest trade blocs: Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). “Egypt’s imports from SADC markets reach $7 billion annually, while the exports do not exceed $42 million,” said Egyptian Minister of Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour in press statements after a meeting with Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) Tuesday. The free trade agreement between the three biggest trade blocs is expected to be signed during a conference in Sharm el-Sheikh to be held in June. It will launch a free trade zone between the 26 member states of the blocs. FEI President Mohamed Zaki El-Swedy said that the federation has presented proposals on increasing Egyptian exports to African markets to the Cabinet. The Most prominent proposal was the products’ exchange between Egypt and Africa to ensure foreign currency. Egypt has acquired 25 percent of intra-regional trade exports in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It also ranks fourth among the major importers in the COMESA region, African Development Bank (ADB) representative Laila Mokaddem said in March, 2014. Source: The Cairo post

The three African economic blocs, made up of COMESA, SADC and the East African Community, will be integrated into one free market, Minister of Industry and Trade Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour announced in a closed meeting on Tuesday. In the meeting, to prepare for the African Conference of the three blocs, Abdel Nour added that African countries ‘ economies are growing at a high rate. The minister noted that Egyptian exports to Africa in 2013 accounted for $4.5bn of total Egyptian exports, which amounted to approximately $23bn. Abdel Nour discussed with the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) how to activate the three African blocs through export promotion movement between Egypt and other African countries, according to FEI Chairman Mohammed Al-Suwaidi. During a press conference, Al-Suwaidi confirmed that during the summit, which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh from 7 to 10 June, an agreement gathering all the three blocs in one agreement will be signed, entitled the “Sharm El-Sheikh agreement”. “This summit stems from our belief in the importance and the role of Africa, as it is the largest growing and promising market for Egyptian exports,” Al-Suwaidi added. “The reactivation of trade and exports movement between Egypt and Africa will solve a number of problems related to hard currency and high costs of shipping through the activation of the role of trade exchange stated in the COMESA agreement.” Al-Suwaidi declared that the FEI will send an invitation to the African Development Bank (AFDB) to visit Egypt to take advantage of...

EAST Africa still has some of the highest freight and transport costs which erodes the global competitiveness for the region's exports, a trade consultant said on Friday. Trade Mark East Africa director general David Stanton said the high costs slow down trade, hold back hold back economic growth, job creation and poverty eradication. He spoke in Mombasa when TMA and the UK's Department of International Development signed a £23 milliom (Sh3.5 billion) financial support deal for a green programme at the Mombasa port. The national government and Trade Mark East Africa had hosted international donors at a conference intended to highlight priority infrastructural requirements at the port of Mombasa in need of renewal and upgrading. “This project aims at minimising environmental impacts while addressing energy efficiencies which are among many projects that TMA is spearheading through the UK government support at the Mombasa Port to enhance trade environment in the region,” said Stanton. Stanton said the programme aims at ensuring availability of fresh water, protection of marine environment, better use of energy and reducing carbon emission from ships and cargo trucks. He said the additional support is in response to a recent study conducted by the Kenya Ports Authority recommending the need for mainstreaming of climate change and renewable energy into port operations. Through TMA he said that UK and its seven other development partners are currently spending about US$700m (Sh51 billion) on reducing barriers to trade and accelerating regional economic integration in the East African Community. “Improvements at the...

Policymakers and professionals will Tuesday meet at a consultative forum in Kigali to review the state of matters in regard to regulation of professional services committed by Rwanda under the EAC Common Market Protocol. The meeting will look into challenges encountered in the process, as well as assess the rate of cross-border practice by Rwandan professionals. According to the Ministry of East African Community Affairs (MINEAC), the forum will also assess the effect of non-recognition of academic and professional qualifications granted by EAC partner states, which deters cross-border practice. Denis Karera, vice president of East African Business Council, told The New Times that the forum is timely as Rwandan professionals need to self-evaluate and see how to best push further into the open EAC market. "We need to evaluate ourselves as professionals and know where we are in the regional market. Are we fitting in it, compared to other regional professionals? We shall then be able to consider where we need to upgrade," Karera said. Professional services committed by Rwanda under the protocol comprise medical, legal, accounting, auditing, book keeping and taxation, education, veterinary services; in addition to construction, architectural, quantity surveyors, urban planners, and engineers' services. Karera added: "We have been crawling so the forum is a test for us. It's not too late." The Private Sector Federation (PSF) director of advocacy, trade and labour relations, Antoine Manzi Rutayisire, said there are many challenges encountered, especially in Tanzania. Everything revolves around the principle of mutual recognition of professionals in...

At the point where River Sio meets Lake Victoria is a small trading centre whose growth has not been very impressive over the years. The locals tend to ignore its retarded growth and insist on calling the shopping centre a town. But a town it should be. It has all the natural ingredients of not only being a town but a major tourist hub and a mover of the economy of the Western region and the country at large. Just a 100 metres from the ‘town’ is what should be a world-class port. A bridge that was the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s government’s ambitious project of connecting Kenya and Uganda lies unfinished. No, its construction is about to start, at the lake’s mouth, some 40 years down the line. Here, young men, and sometimes women, dive into the world’s second largest fresh water lake for a swim. Sometimes, it is the only bath these lads get for the day. Development has been long in coming for Sio Port. But it is coming. Residents cannot help but believe there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel for their ‘town’. Investors too, seem convinced that the otherwise blind tourists, both local and foreign, are about to open their eyes and see the beauty that the place exudes, the sandy beach, the flora, the birds, the meandering river, and the species of fish that can only be found at Emagogwe — ebidonge, esire, echachu, eningu and others whose English...

Volatility of the local currency stems from the global financial crisis, worsened by the shilling’s turmoil domestically in 2011, insecurity and closing down of several forex bureaus. Recovery lies in avoiding excessive turbulence and minimising the negative impacts on investor opportunities and risks, write Dr Mbui Wagacha (top) and Dr Eric Aligula (bottom) Three key factors determine a country’s exchange rate:the relative purchasing power of its currency; its investment opportunities and risks; and its demand for goods and services. Against this background there is reason to ponder the recent depreciation of the Kenyan shilling. This year, it has shed approximately 5.1 per cent of its value against the US dollar, compared with annual declines of 4.8 per cent, 0.27 per cent, 1.1 per cent, 5.29 per cent, and 6.48 per cent for 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. The current global exchange rate scene is rooted in the financial turbulence of 2007/2008, the management of the ensuing economic contractions (deflation), and the impacts of policy choices made in major economies to fight the great recession. The US chose its policies wisely. It implemented expansionary but “unconventional” central banking policies combined with an expansionary fiscal stimulus to address financial stability and stimulate the economy by restoring private spending. The policy mix cut interest rates to historic lows but caused capital “spillovers” abroad, especially in the so-called “carry trade”. The policy mix worked to reverse a plunging economy. It yielded a strong recovery and created or saved millions of jobs. The...

A contracting manufacturing does not bode well for the economy and according to the latest economic survey 2015, this is what happened to the industrial sector last year. Growth in the sector was down by 2.2 per cent from 2014. This growth was supported by animal feeds, tobacco products, pharmaceutical products, furniture, fabricated metals and other non metallic mineral products while the shut down of the refinery took its toll on us. For a long time now the country has been running on one engine only, that of domestic consumption. Our biggest export market is the EAC and total trade increased in 2014 which is an improvement. Our exports to the EAC in 2014 recovered somewhat from the drop that was witnessed in 2013 to a total 162,456,423 though not in equal measure to 2012 when we had exports totalling to 165,803,523. A two-year moving average analysis of exports to EAC partner states shows that our exports to Burundi have consistently increased over a period of5 years, while our exports to Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda have been decreasing. We are increasingly importing from Uganda which is now our biggest import market in the region. A positive blip in all this data is that the sector as a whole delivered on its promise to create more jobs. Formal employment increased by 2.9 per cent creating 8,000 new jobs, informal employment created 112,200 new jobs, compensation to employees was up by 11.2 per cent and our imports of industrial machinery increased pointing...