Non-Tariff Barriers are still posing a serious challenge to regional trade and integration in East Africa, a regional chief has said. Speaking at the recently concluded private sector chief executives forum in Dar es Salaam, EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera said they account for significant proportion of the high transportation costs in the East African Community. “Transportation costs are estimated to be 60-70 per cent higher than in the US or Europe, and 30 per cent higher than in southern Africa,” said Mr Sezibera. In March this year, a key Bill on eliminating the barriers sailed through its third reading pending assent by Heads of State. The objective of the Bill, which was moved by the council of ministers, is to provide a legal mechanism for elimination of identified NTBs in partner States. According to the East African Business Council Chairman Felix Mosha, Eala played a significant role by passing the Bill, however, a number of issues crippling trade in the bloc still remain pending. “They include fast-tracking implementation of the single customs territory so that intended benefits can be realised by removing unfair competition and encourage efficiency and competitiveness in EAC,” said Mr Mosha. Source: Daily Nation

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged African governments to open their borders, trade with each other and reduce dependency on foreign aid. Speaking at the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, Kenyatta told members of the house that the continent's potential could be realised only if African governments worked together and made it easier to trade with each other. "There cannot be a good reason why it is easier for us to trade with Asia, Europe and the Americas rather than our own fellow Africans. We have ended up as a source of raw materials. This must come to an end. Africa must use her resources to create jobs for our own young people." "Africa must significantly open her markets to African products to promote this ideal. That process can only be achieved if we start by opening up our borders to each other," Kenyatta said. He called for governments to significantly reduce the cost of inter-Africa trade and to forge partnerships which would take the continent into a new industrial development. Partnerships have started to emerge in East Africa. This process began in July 2000 with Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. This community undertook to establish a customs union, common market, monitoring union and a political federation. The customs union is already in place and the common market goal is gradually being achieved. "Despite our individually small economies, the integration has placed the entire region on a trajectory of growth that will fundamentally transform Africa," Kenyatta said. East African...

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and TradeMark Africa (TMA) have launched an online portal that automates imports inspection and clearance. The portal which cost a total of US $ 100,000 will enable traders access UNBS services from any geographical location without physical visits to UNBS offices. This will save them time and money by providing an easy access to information, quicker lodging and approval of applications and import clearance certificates, easy access to various standards permits, and ease in monitoring business transactions and receive timely email notifications. Uganda Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Hon. Amelia Kyambade and TMA Country Director, Allen Asiimwe graced the event. Speaking at the launch, Hon. Kyambade said: "With this portal, UNBS will address the numerous challenges faced by traders in importing and exporting while adhering to UNBS regulations. I encourage traders to visit the database as it is an important reference point for import/export as one engages in trading activities both locally and internationally. Traders will find the portal useful as it has information on import/export requirements including import licensing requirements. We expect that the portal will be a tool for raising level of awareness of the traders on the regulations and procedures of import/export business. In the long term, it will assist in reducing delays in cargo clearance due to incorrect licenses or import/export procedures by the trader as well as assist UNBS achieve its mission." UNBS partnered with TMA to develop the portal in response to challenges it faced with its...

[caption id="attachment_7492" align="alignleft" width="600"] Left; Uganda Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Hon. Amelia Kyambade and right; TMA Uganda Country Director, Allen Asiimwe shake hands at the launch of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) portal.[/caption] Kampala, Uganda, 14th May, 2014: Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and TradeMark Africa (TMA) today launched an online portal that automates imports inspection and clearance. The portal which cost a total of $US 100,000 willenable traders access UNBS services from any geographical location without physical visits to UNBS offices. This will savethem time and money by providing an easy access to information, quicker lodging and approval of applications and import clearance certificates, easy access to various standards permits, and ease in monitoring business transactions and receive timely email notifications. Uganda Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Hon. Amelia Kyambadeand TMA Country Director, Allen Asiimwe graced the event. Speaking at the launch, Hon. Kyambade said; “With this portal, UNBS will address the numerous challenges faced by traders in importing and exporting while adhering to UNBS regulations. I encourage traders to visit the database as it is an important reference point for import/export as one engages in trading activities both locally and internationally. Traders will find the portal useful as it has information on import/export requirements including import licensing requirements. We expect that the portal will be a tool for raising level of awareness of the traders on the regulations and procedures of import/export business. In the long term, it will assist in reducing...

The East African Community Legislative Assembly recently passed a binding legislation to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade among East African Community partner states. Known as the East African Community Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Act, 2015, the law is likely to contribute to increased intra-EAC trade once ratified nationally by each of the five states — Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. NTBs are partly to blame for the still limited intra-EAC trade, estimated at 13 per cent in 2013. NTBs often limit market access, changing the quantities of goods traded, or increasing the prices of goods. They come in various forms such as restrictive sanitary and environmental protection measures, import or export restrictions, price controls, arbitrary application of rules of origin and other trade-restrictive measures. Although there are no quantitative studies on the impact of NTBs in the region, the most recent Business Climate Index Survey in 2011 by the East African Business Council showed that businesses feel that NTBs have continued unabated in the EAC. Perhaps even worse, the general public seems to lack awareness of NTBs and their negative impact on their economic circumstances. The importance of the Act cannot be overstated. It provides the business community the opportunity to report NTBs and see to their final resolution through the formal channels of the EAC Secretariat, with a clearly defined elimination framework. Before that, businesses could report NTBs to their respective national monitoring committee (NMC), who would in turn report them during the regional forums of NMCs, usually...

East African Community countries and those of Central Africa are spending billions of dollars in freight costs on foreign-owned shipping firms that they would otherwise have used on their own. Between 2008 and 2012, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda and Burundi paid $48.2 billion in freight costs, according to the Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS). “These are colossal amounts of money. It is high time countries in East Africa explored the idea of investing in vessels,” ISCOS secretary Kenneth Mwige said, adding that apart from Ethiopia, most countries in Africa do not own ships. Kenya paid $15.6 billion in the five years of the review, followed by Zambia and Tanzania, which spent $11.2 billion and $10.5 billion respectively. “If EAC states are to grow their economies, they cannot afford to keep paying this kind of money to foreign companies. Their economies are growing and imports are increasing at an average rate of seven per cent annually, so these figures will keep rising,” said Mr Mwige. ISCOS — an initiative of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia — plays a key advisory role on maritime matters. According to Kenya Ports Authority statistics, the volume of cargo passing through Mombasa Port is projected to grow at between five and 10 per cent this year, that is, 27.36 million tonnes compared with the 24.875 million tonnes handled in 2014. Container traffic at the port is projected to rise from 1.012 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (teu) containers last year to 1.3 million teu...

EAC ministers have agreed to align national tourism laws to the EAC Customs Management Act. Amending of the laws will accord privately owned non-commercial vehicles registered in a member state local status on excursions to tourism sites across borders. The agreement follows a recent dispute that saw Kenya ban Tanzanian registered tourist vehicles from accessing Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, national parks and other tourist sites. Tanzania retaliated by cutting down the frequency of Kenya Airways flights from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro by more than 60 per cent. Though the standoff was resolved, the chief executive officer of the Kenya Tourism Federation, Agatha Juma, said the problem of commercial vehicles not accessing each other’s airports and tourist sites should be addressed. “If laws are to be amended, then Tanzania should first amend its current Tourism Act that bars foreign registered vehicles from its national parks,” said Ms Juma. “We are waiting for the bilateral meeting between the two countries to see what decision will be taken to resolve the issue.” Tanzania’s Tourism Act 2008 stipulates that foreign registered tour operator vehicles are not allowed entry into national parks. According to Fred Kaigwa, the Kenya Association of Tour Operators chief executive, although the two presidents directed that Tanzania’s tour vans be allowed to access JKIA, it was an unfair decision for Kenya. “Tanzania still bars our commercial vehicles from their tourist sites,” said Mr Kaigwa. Richard Rugimbana, the executive secretary of the Tourism Confederation of Tanzania, said the...

Africa’s biggest trading blocs are next month set to sanction the creation of a grand free trade area while still seeking consensus on tariff liberation and rules of origin of manufactured products. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has been negotiating for agreeable tariff offers and the criteria for determining the national sources of products with its counterparts—Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the East African Community (EAC). But the indecisiveness of some member states and trading blocs to table their own tariff proposals has delayed the launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). The negotiations for the single market were launched in Johannesburg in 2011. “These issues will be renegotiated after the approval of the draft agreement establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area among the Comesa, Sadc and EAC trading blocs,” Mark Ogot, a senior assistant director in charge of economic affairs at Kenya’s Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism told The EastAfrican, noting that only 40 per cent of the issues to do with rules of origin have been completed. “They have agreed on the way forward although there is still some work to be done. Rules of origin and tariff offers are the outstanding issues.” According to draft documents, the tripartite member states are expected to simplify and harmonise their trade and Customs documentation and procedures for trade in goods among themselves. The member states are not supposed to impose quantitative restrictions on imports or exports in trade with each other...

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards has launched an online portal for imports inspection and clearance that will result in faster clearance of goods at low cost to traders. The $100,000 e-portal will enable importers and cargo clearing agents to have advance information on incoming cargo and an integrated system for disseminating status of import requests including results of laboratory analysis. The portal is expected to result in 20 per cent reduction in transaction time and up to 15 per cent reduction in indirect costs associated with import inspection services from UNBS. “The portal will save them time and money by providing an easy access to information, quicker lodging and approval of applications and import clearance certificates, easy access to various standards permits, and ease in monitoring business transactions,” said Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Amelia Kyambade. Traders will be able to apply for Inspection Clearance Certificate, receive updates after each stage via email, bank payment advise, digital clearance certificates and more. The database will also sensitise the traders on import/export requirements including import licensing requirements hence making them better informed of the import/export procedures. It will form a critical component of the e-Single Window concept by providing a one-stop location for information required by traders. “We expect that the portal will be a tool for raising level of awareness of the traders on the regulations and procedures of import/export business,” said Ms Kyambade. The e-portal will reside on the Asycuda World – a Customs electronic clearance system used...

The East African Community states are among countries that will benefit from low cereal prices expected to prevail this year, following the record-breaking output in Europe and Asia last year. The world cereal output is forecast at 2,509 million tonnes (including rice in milled equivalent), which is 39 million tonnes lower than in 2014 but still nearly 5 per cent above the average of the past five years. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), exporting nations are still holding abundant stocks of cereals, hence an increase in prices will be unlikely. “The world food import bill is forecast to reach a five-year low in 2015, mainly driven by a decline in international prices, low freight rates and a strong US dollar,” said FAO in its latest global food outlook. The situation will benefit low-income countries that continue to spend millions of dollars importing cereals. As a result, these countries are expected to save on foreign exchange this year. The EAC member states do not produce enough wheat, rice and maize for their 134.5 million citizens. Although Uganda and Tanzania have increased their maize production, supply still remains erratic and heavily dependent on rainfall performance. Prices are expected to remain low despite a slight decline in global grain production this year compared with last year, as abundant stocks held by exporting countries and some importing nations are expected to offset any pressure from the demand side. “Worldwide cereal production will likely decline by 1.5 per cent from last year’s...