The United Kingdom has promised to strengthen trade and investment links with the East African Community Partner States for mutual benefit. UK High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Sarah Cooke, said that her country would remain an outward focused trade-based economy with strong partnerships with other countries and regional economic blocs even in the wake of Brexit. The high commissioner was speaking after she presented her credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha. Ms Cooke said the UK would create new partnerships with the EAC aimed at promoting private sector-led economic growth for employment creation and poverty reduction in the East African region. The envoy disclosed that the UK was the biggest contributor to Trade- Mark East Africa (TMA), adding that the funding to TMA was being utilised to finance technical assistance to the EAC in sectors such as customs, trade, investment and video teleconferencing. On his side, Amb. Mfumukeko said his priorities over the next four years would be to promote the free movement of persons and labour as enshrined in the EAC Common Market Protocol; increase investment for job creation and improve agriculture to ensure food security and create employment for the youth in East Africa. Source: All Africa

EAS Africa offers friendly investment ground for German investors that assures high rate of return than any other developing region in the world. This was said by the Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed at the Second German- African Business Summit organized by the East African Business Council (EABC) held in Nairobi last week. The meeting that attracted over 500 participants from business and politics provided opportunity to explore new markets, meet potential business partners and discussed opportunities and challenges on the business environment in Africa. “East Africa region is ready for and welcomes German investors to pursue investment opportunities to reap high rate of return than any other developing nation in the world,” she said. The EABC Chairman Mr Audace Ndayizeye said EABC has agreed to collaborate with the German African Business Association and other important German players as part of a ‘German – East African Advisory Forum’. In addition, the German African Business Association agreed to collaborate with EABC by jointly organizing the EAC – German Business Conference by end of the year. “The conference will not only look at financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) but also on which Foreign Direct Investment come from other countries to the EAC that Germany misses out” he said. On his part, the EABC Vice Chair Kenya, Ambassador Dennis Awori said, “Regional integration offers a larger market and common laws which reduce business cost of such as stocking in each different country” The panel discussions noted that regional integration successes...

The newly operational One Stop Border Post (OSBP) facilities at the Rwanda-Ugandan border at Kagitumba, Nyagatare district has reduced clearance time by 25 percent, officials said. An OSBP is a "one stop" form of border crossing point jointly managed by neighboring countries, with officials from host and neighboring country sitting under one roof on either side of the border. This allows travelers to stop only once at the country of destination, where their travel or other documents are stamped both exit (from country of origin official) and entry (by country of destination official) at the same time, thus the "One Stop". This eliminates double clearing and enables cross border trade documentation to be done on the order side of destination thus reducing time it takes to cross border. A survey in March 2016, established that total clearing time at the border already reduced by 25 percent from 5 hours to 3:45 hours within 3 months of operation. Time reductions are estimated to hit 30 percent by June 2017, TradeMark Africa (TMA) said in a statement Tuesday. "Never in my life did I imagine anything like this would happen. Clearance is just easy," said Joseph Manzi, a Rwandan who lives in Nyagatare, a border town, and has done small cross-border business for about ten years. Further, various initiatives are being undertaken to popularize the border crossing to attract 60 percent of Northern Corridor, according to officials. To improve physical connectivity, two bridges were constructed with one serving cargo and passengers going...

As the East Africa region grows fast in Africa, policies to promote transformation of transport to economic corridors should be put in place to facilitate more dynamic movements of people, goods, services and money. Presenting the working paper on 'Dynamism and Future prospects of Economic Corridors in the East African Region', Chairperson for DAIMA Associates Limited, Prof Samuel Wangwe, said in the recent years new economic movements have emerged. "Growth poles which are an agglomeration of production, logistics and consumption centres have also emerged. Those growth poles have been connected more deeply through transport corridors and by so doing those corridors have been transformed from simple transport corridors to economic corridors," he noted. He said planning the corridor development and its surrounding area can maximise development benefits through engagement of public-private partnership for sustainability. DAIMA Chairperson said prioritising economic potential available in transportation corridors should be given priority by creating friendly business and trade policies. Expounding further he said through absorbing energies from Indian and Arabic world across the Indian Ocean, the region has witnessed more dynamic movements of people, goods, service and money along the economic corridors. As the corridor will not grow without doing anything, he said developing master plan to study them and growth poles was important. The plan will assist in implementation of projects and executing the transformation of process. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Senior Representative, Mr Amatsu Kuniaki, said they commissioned DAIMA Associates to produce the working paper with interest in looking at the...

  PRESIDENT YOWERI Kaguta Museveni has reiterated his commitment to further strengthening of the relations between Uganda and India. The President was last evening speaking at State House, Entebbe where the new Indian High Commissioner, Ravi Shankar, presented his credentials to the President. The new envoy replaces Dr. Ramesh Chandra who concluded his tour of duties in Uganda recently after staying in the country since 2013. Welcoming the new envoy to Uganda, President reiterated his commitment to further strengthening of the relations that happily exist between Uganda and India. High Commissioner Shankar commended President Museveni for bringing Uganda to a level where the country ranks as one No Banner to display of the world’s most favorable places for investments. He also lauded the President and the National Resistance Movement for restoring and deepening ties between India and Uganda. India and Uganda relations cover a broad range of sectors including political, economic, commercial, cultural and scientific cooperation. In the 2010 – 2011 period, bilateral trade between Uganda and India amounted to US$728 million with the balance of trade in favour of India whereby Uganda’s exports to India accounted for only US$16.7 million of the total trade. Source: Xclusive UG

Singapore is embracing the East African Community Singapore has its eyes on the East Africa Community (EAC). The economic bloc is formed by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and is home to more than 157 million citizens. The EAC had a combined GDP of US$147bn in 2014 and an average annual GDP growth of over 6% projected for the coming two years. Huge investment opportunities arise there at an increasingly fast rate and Singapore is taking steps to grow in this market. In recent years, the EAC has started various infrastructure projects to improve the connection between its members, ultimately decreasing the cost of doing business and making the bloc more attractive to trade with foreign countries. Singapore is enjoying this opportunity. The city-state has traded more than $400m with the EAC alone in 2013. Singapore is currently involved in various businesses in the region, ranging from agriculture to digital logistics solutions, and is eager to expand its presence even more. This pace will increase as legal frameworks and institutions covering the whole EAC bloc gain strength and eliminate corruption in the region. Basic infrastructure problems are being solved to promote an easy flow of goods and services in the region. Challenges that the EAC faces are mostly related to poor infrastructure, such as inefficient border posts, road blocks, transit road weighbridges, long clearances at ports, and poor roads and railways. Corruption is also a problem. These challenges, however, in themselves constitute opportunities for companies understanding Africa and willing to...

The newly operational One Stop Border Post (OSBP) facilities at the Rwanda-Ugandan border at Kagitumba, Nyagatare district has reduced clearance time by 25 percent, officials said. An OSBP is a “one stop” form of border crossing point jointly managed by neighboring countries, with officials from host and neighboring country sitting under one roof on either side of the border. This allows travelers to stop only once at the country of destination, where their travel or other documents are stamped both exit (from country of origin official) and entry (by country of destination official) at the same time, thus the “One Stop”. This eliminates double clearing and enables cross border trade documentation to be done on the order side of destination thus reducing time it takes to cross border. A survey in March 2016, established that total clearing time at the border already reduced by 25 percent from 5 hours to 3:45 hours within 3 months of operation. Time reductions are estimated to hit 30 percent by June 2017, TradeMark Africa (TMA) said in a statement Tuesday. “Never in my life did I imagine anything like this would happen. Clearance is just easy,” said Joseph Manzi, a Rwandan who lives in Nyagatare, a border town, and has done small cross-border business for about ten years. Further, various initiatives are being undertaken to popularize the border crossing to attract 60 percent of Northern Corridor, according to officials. To improve physical connectivity, two bridges were constructed with one serving cargo and passengers going...

By: JAMES ANYANZWA. The East African Community has formed a 25-member taskforce to revise the region’s Common External Tariff (CET) and fine-tune the existing rules of origin to boost intra-regional trade and attract new investments to the bloc. The taskforce comprises four experts on tariffs, fiscal policy, trade and statistics from each of the five member countries — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi — plus one representatives from the private sector, notably associations of manufacturers or chambers of commerce from each of the member states. The timelines for the completion of the exercise have also been revised from July to September 2017. The EAC Council of Ministers agreed that the 12-year-old CET has failed to live up to the expectations of the changing business environment with some member states and manufacturers blaming the three-band tariff structure for loss of revenue and a drop in intra-regional trade. The current CET is based on three bands of 25 per cent for finished goods, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and 0 per cent for raw materials and capital goods, with a limited number of products under the sensitive list that attract rates above the maximum rate of 25 per cent. Kenya hopes to rally other EAC member states to increase the tariff bands from three to four to be responsive of the needs of industries that import industrial inputs. “The dynamics in the region have changed and therefore there is a need for the CET to be reviewed to reflect the current...

Kenya will later this month know whether its bid to build a customs union with its neighbours still holds. East African Heads of State will meet in Arusha on February 28, where one of the items on the agenda will be the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Trade Principal secretary Chris Kiptoo told People Daily in a telephone interview that EAC countries are supposed to sign the EPAs as a bloc so that they can enjoy quota and duty-free market access. However, he said, Kenya has no issue to raise during the summit on the EPAs as it has already signed and ratified the trade pact with EU. “As required under the principles of the EPAs Kenya has signed and ratified the trade protocol, only awaiting the other partners to follow suit. But all the EAC countries are individually supposed to sign and ratify the trade deal and collectively sign the document with the EU,” said the PS. The deadline for the EAC member states to sign the trade agreement as a bloc was set for October 1, 2016 but there has been resistance from some countries. The EU parliament, on request by Kenya, agreed to extend the deadline to February 2. The deadline is over and only two countries have signed.  Kenya has signed and ratified while Rwanda has only signed. Tanzania has refused to sign, claiming the agreement would have serious consequences for its revenues and the growth of its industries. Uganda has expressed a commitment...

Claims that some East African Community Partner states did not voted for Kenya’s nominee to the African Union Commission Chairperson seat, must not be allowed to affect the bilateral relations between the EAC countries. The loss of Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed’s bid for the AU top seat must not affect the unity of the East African Community. Instead, the loss should be an eye opener on the deep rooted cracks existing within the community. Consequently, our leaders must put all the cards on the table and forge the way forward if the community is to remain united and vibrant. Kenya’s disappointment is understandable. The country sent diplomats across 53 countries during the three months intensive lobbying season seeking for votes, where close to $3.5million was spent. All the same, the loss should not be seen as a Kenyan defeat but as an East African Community loss. The claims that Amina lost to Chad’s foreign affairs minister Moussa Faki Mahamat after seven rounds of voting due to the refusal by Uganda, Djibouti and Burundi to vote for Kenya are damaging to the unity of the EAC to say the least. Already, Uganda has dispelled claims that it voted against Amina Mohamed after Kenya said she will review her bilateral relations with her neighbours. Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this claim was unsubstantiated and false. It was a noble move for Uganda which immediately released a statement reiterating her support to the candidature of Amina before and during elections. In...