Kampala, September 16, 2014: Uganda is set to attain a one stop electronic trade clearance computerised system which will enhance its competitiveness in regional trade as a result of a partnership between the Royal Danish Embassy, Uganda and TradeMark Africa (TMA). The two development partners signed Bilateral Agreement today to support implementation of the National Electronic Single Window (NSEW) in Uganda. Once complete, NESW will lead to enhanced availability and ease in accessing and handling of international trade documents and information leading to reduced transaction delays and costs related to document handling for imports and exports.Speaking during the signing ceremony, Danish Ambassador, H.E. Dan E. Frederiksen on behalf of the Royal Danish Embassy said hisGovernment will provide TradeMark Africa (TMA) with aGrant of USD5million in support of TradeMark Africa (TMA)’s efforts to reach the agreed objectives and outputs of implementing the NESW. TradeMark Africa (TMA) will be responsible for planning, monitoring and reporting of the NESW and will work closely with UgandaRevenue Authority(URA) and Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC). H.E Ambassador Frederiksen,said,“The customs reforms at URA are very impressive. What I particularly like about this is that these new systems with very advanced technology build the business community’s confidence in URA systems and reduce the cost of doing business. In addition, the transit time for goods has been significantly reduced. I am convinced that the new Danish grant to TradeMark Africa (TMA) will successfully build on these experiences. Not only will it significantly reduce the time it takes...

Contrary to earlier fears that Kenya would dominate its neighbours in a liberalised regional market, figures show a growing trend towards more balanced trade. While Kenya retains its industrial advantage, earlier policies of import substitution and protectionism adopted by Uganda and Rwanda plus an open trade regime have led to more balanced trade. The two countries, which had been Kenya’s biggest markets for long, have started to produce their own value added products thereby reducing the need for imports. Moses Ogwal, director of policy advocacy and trade at Uganda’s Private Sector Foundation, said EAC integration which requires countries to abolish tariff and non-tariff barriers has opened the Kenyan market. “Kenyan businessmen can come to Uganda to buy maize, beans, water melons and pineapples without anyone asking questions. This has increased our exports,” he said. But while it is easy for such food products to enter the Kenyan market, the reverse is difficult because when the region was negotiating the Common Market Protocol, Kenya, which is considered a developing country could only protect few industries unlike the other four partner states which fall under the least developed category. However, Richard Sezibera the EAC secretary general said this should not worry Kenya as the country’s trade in the region had increased in absolute terms. “The rising exports to Kenya is a good thing for EAC as it increases intra-regional trade,” he said adding that it was important for intra-EAC trade to stay above 25 per cent for the planned single currency in...

Nairobi; Kenya: East African Community (EAC) states and the European Union (EU) have reached a new deal in protracted negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The breakthrough draft text for the EPAs paves the way for a final agreement. A ministerial negotiation in Brussels, Belgium, early this year ended without an agreed text. However, an agreement has now been reached by the East African Council of Ministers in Arusha after a day-long meeting chaired by Kenya's East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie. EPAs are free trade agreements the European Union is negotiating with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Ms Kandie, who chairs the Council of Ministers, described the breakthrough as good news and a clear indicator that regional integration has taken root. "The agreement was particularly significant for Kenya who stood to lose billions in exports to the EU if a deal was not finalised by October 1, 2014," she added in a statement released in Nairobi yesterday. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed told a media briefing that Kenya had a very capable team during the negotiations, consisting of Cabinet and principal secretaries and experts from the ministry among others. She added that chances of beating the October deadline were high but assured that in case there was a delay of two to three months resulting in taxes, the Government would make refunds. "At last we were able to agree. We will still be holding meetings on September 24...

The East African Community has accepted a draft agreement for fresh produce exports to the European Union market. On Saturday evening, the EAC Council of Ministers accepted a proposal by the EU to sign a deal before October 1. The agreement, known as the Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs), means that Kenya will avoid heavy taxation, which its exporters would have faced in the EU had the regional bloc failed to reach consensus on outstanding issues. “This breakthrough is good news and a clear indicator that integration has taken root,” said Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie, who chaired the Arusha meeting. “The agreement is particularly significant to Kenya who stood to lose billions in exports to the EU if a deal was not finalised by October 1,” she said. However, the decision appears to have been reached too late, since Kenyan flower exporters will have to pay taxes from October 1 after all. This is because the time available will not be enough to implement the provisions of the deal. Foreign Affairs Cabinet secretary Amina Mohammed said the EAC had written to the EU informing it that they had reached an agreement. “I must caution that because of the delays, we may have to meet a higher degree of taxation, because of the process it will have to go through to be implemented,” Ms Mohammed said on Sunday. “We still have a gap of one to two months, but that is not big because we would have faced a...

KAMPALA, Uganda - Importers and business people will soon get timely and efficient services at clearance points following a partnership deal that was signed between the Royal Danish Embassy, Uganda and TradeMark Africa (TMA). This is in support of the National Electronic Single Window (NESW). Once implemented, NESW will improve availability and easy access to international trade documents and information leading to reduced transaction delays and costs. The Danish ambassador, Dan e Frederiksen said his government will provide TradeMark Africa (TMA) with a grant of $5 million (which will be paid in phases. Each phase is supposed to take one year) in support of their efforts to reach the agreed objectives and outputs of the NSEW. “I am particularly impresses with the custom reforms at the URA. The new system and advanced technology introduced will help in improving trade in Uganda and the rest of the world. We have confidence in the NSEW program because it’s objectives are clear. We are grad to be partners with TradeMark Africa (TMA) for this good cause,’’ Ambassador Fredrick said. , TradeMark Africa Country Director, Allen Asiimwe said Uganda still lags behind compared to other East African countries in terms of how much they export. She said this is caused by the long delays spent in securing documents. She said the single window will not only save time, but also money spent in securing all the documents needed for one to export goods. “NESW will cut 30% of the time taken to export goods....

The East African Community partner states should choose who to trade with and shun 'bad' trade agreements in order to maximise benefits from inter-regional trade, Arancha Gonzalez, the executive director of International Trade Centre (ITC), has said. Gonzalez was responding to a question posed during a media conference at the closure of the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) in Kigali on Wednesday. During the three-day event that took place in Africa for the first time, a pledge was made by participants from 73 countries to work towards facilitating local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to internationalise their operations through, among others, removing nontariff barriers, improving standards as well as building attractive brands. However, it was observed that there's a tendency to patronise African countries when they attempt to trade with economically more advanced regions such as Europe, especially during the process of negotiating trade agreements. An ongoing example is the Economic Partnership Agreement between EAC and Europe, whose conclusion has failed because of what experts say are contentious clauses that don't favour EAC partners. Observers have noted that Europe's failure to compromise or strike out the undesirable clauses is like holding the region at 'gunpoint.' However, Francis Gatare, the chief executive of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), differed, saying, "there are no gunpoint agreements." Gatare, who was on the same media briefing, added that rather than rush to do business with Europe, there are unexploited opportunities closer to home. "Agreements are signed between two parties and I don't think East...

The re-opening of the long dormant railway line between Tororo and Pakwach, via Gulu, last year by Uganda President Museven, has raised much hope and expectations about growing cargo volumes being shifted from the road to the rail on the main route to Uganda’s North and the South Sudan. Yet announcements made by Rift Valley Railways about the formal commissioning last week of three out of twenty brand new GE locomotives ordered, and the doubling of the rolling stock by mid of next year, do not entirely apply to the Tororo – Gulu route. Like key sections in Kenya and in Uganda along the Tororo – Kampala line, additional work will be required to restore the rail track to higher specifications, allowing for an increase in speed and higher axle loads, if rail transport is truly to offer a viable alternative to road transport. RVR earlier this year already imported automated line maintenance equipment and the two units now in use are deployed along the main line to cover hotspots between Mombasa, Nairobi, the Ugandan border at Tororo and Kampala. It is there that surging demand for cargo space makes it almost inevitable that the new machines are deployed where the most is to be gained in terms of revenues, leaving other lines like the one to Gulu to be largely refurbished by manual labour. Also required is additional infrastructure at the Gulu railhead, like a container depot with road access to the main highway from Gulu to Nimule and...

The East African Community (EAC) Member States have all reached an agreement amongst themselves on a common position on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with the EU, a senior Kenyan official said on Sunday. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed told journalists in Nairobi that the deal paves way for the signing of the EPAs before the Oct.1 deadline. "The agreement now has to go through internal processes so that it is ratified by both parties before the deadline," Mohamed said. EAC Members States include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. If the EAC and EU don't sign the deal, then Kenyan exports will subjected to tariffs while the rest of the EAC partners states will trade under the everything but arms trade deal. Kenya is a major exporter of horticulture, vegetables and flowers to the EU. "But because of the delay in signing of the agreement, Kenyan exports to the EU might be subjected to import tariffs for period not exceeding three months," Mohamed said, adding that the government has undertaken to cushion all exporters that will be affected by the taxes. The EPAs, launched in Brussels in 2002, are aimed at enhancing sustainable growth, increasing production and supply capacities of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and promoting structural processing and economic diversification of the ACP states while supporting regional integration. Experts say Kenya stands to benefit from foreign exchange earnings, employment opportunities and penetration to the EU market with EPAs. The...

October 1, 2014 is an important date in the ten-year old trade negotiations between the European Union and ACP countries over the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). While EU boss in Uganda is quick to point out that the date is neither an ultimatum nor a deadline; come Oct. 01, the EU - a grouping of 27 European countries - will withdraw its free market access to countries that have not yet ratified the agreements. Apparently, the EU is forced to act because it is also under pressure from other sources. With the US initiated AGOA planned for extension for another 15 years and the US promising $33 billion in trade deals, and with the Chinese also becoming a key player in developing countries, the EU doesn't appear to have much time to tie up its trade relations with ACP countries. Development campaigners are crying foul, poor countries that depend on Europe as a key export market are feeling the pressure but the EU top officials say they have waited long enough. Ambassador Kristian Schmidt, the EU Head of Delegation to Uganda, denied that the date was a deadline but suggested that the trade agreements are for the mutual benefit of both Europe and the ACP countries. "October 1 is neither an ultimatum, nor a deadline for EPA negotiations. It is the date when the Amendment of the so-called Market Access Regulation enters into application," he said in an e-mail to The Independent. "From that date, only those ACP countries...

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will from next week jointly collect custom taxes on sugar, dealing a blow to cartels involved in dumping of the commodity in the regional markets. The Kenya Revenue Authority said the three countries would trade in sugar under the Single Customs Territory (SCT) arrangement — which allows for joint collection of customs taxes by the EAC partners — starting September 15. “Duty shall be paid to the destination country before release of goods from the originating country,” Beatrice Memo, commissioner for customs services said Tuesday. Under the SCT deal that began on April 1, clearing agents with East African Community have been granted rights to relocate and carry out their duties in any of the partner states as part of a strategy to improve flow of goods and curb dumping. Importers of commodities covered under the SCT are required to lodge the import declaration forms in their home country and pay relevant taxes first to facilitate the export process. The tax authorities in the respective countries would then issue a road manifest against the import documents submitted electronically by the revenue authority of the importing country. Massive shortage Sugar industry regulators and tax agencies in EAC have been involved in frequent stand-offs over dumping of duty-free sugar within the region. The feud has mainly drawn Kenya against Rwanda and Uganda with the former accusing the two countries of abetting the malpractice that renders its own millers uncompetitive. At a meeting in Kampala in July Rwanda was...