In African countries, according to the UNDP, the economic and social discrimination against women actually costs Africa USD 105 billion a year or 6% of the continent’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Tanzania, agriculture is a principal source of income and livelihood for about 65% of the population contributing an estimated 30%to the GDP. There is a greater participation of women than men in the sector split 81% and 73% respectively -the number increases to 98% for women in rural areas. Many of the world’s poorest countries rely on traditional agricultural crops for export however; it has been proven that participation in high-value export commodity chains such as horticulture and fisheries provides considerable opportunities for growth and poverty reduction. An analysis conducted by International Trade Center Non-Tariff Measures Surveys across 20 countries in 2015 revealed that when it comes to gender parity, far fewer women owned businesses are engaged in international trade than those owned by men. Diversification into high-value agricultural exports has been cited as a key means of linking the world's rural poor to global markets. But how do we unlock this potential of agriculture for improved livelihoods in our own country? Last week, experts met in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and extensively discussed and deliberated on the inclusive participation of women in trade for sustainable development at Trademark East Africa’s annual research symposium on Sustainable and Inclusive Aid for Trade (SIAT). The basis of the discussions was a groundnuts case study from Malawi which revealed that sanitary...

Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Zambian counterpart Edgar Lungu on Saturday launched a one stop border post on the two countries' border in the southern highlands to facilitate trade. The construction of the 6-million-U.S.-dollar state-of-the-art border post at Tunduma in Tanzania and Nakonde in Zambia was financed by Trade Mark East Africa, an organization that aims to improve trade competitiveness in East Africa by reducing transport time and costs, and improving the trade environment. A statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in the business capital Dar es Salaam said the leaders commended the construction of the post, saying it will ease doing business between the two countries and within the southern African region. President Magufuli directed relevant authorities, including the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Immigration Department to ensure that they removed all hurdles that frustrated doing business between the two countries and the southern African region at large, said the statement. "People in our two countries should do business in very friendly environment. This will help to improve their welfare as well as improving the economies of the two countries," said Magufuli. He said the founding leaders of the two countries, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Zambian Kenneth Kaunda launched joint economic projects aimed at making the two countries economically prosperous after they had earned political independence. Magufuli cited some of the joint projects as the 1,710-kilometre Tanzania-Zambia Pipeline Limited and the 1,860-km Chinese-constructed Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) that connects landlocked Zambia to the...

East African Community ( EAC )member states have been urged to should eliminate NTBs and implement agreed EAC directives to boost intra EAC trade to 50 percent. According to the East African Business Council CEO Mr. Peter Mathuki, business community and officials from Trade Facilitation Agencies should embrace the vision of a borderless East Africa for trade. Intra EAC trade is currently at 12 percent. Last week, EABC – and Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) kicked off the second Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) with Trade Facilitation Agencies at Busia One-Stop Border Post to interrogate if EAC agreements and practices ease doing business across EAC borders. The EABC-TMA Public-Private Dialogue was held with Trade Facilitation Agencies at Busia One-Stop Border Post. The PPDs focus is on the extent to which Partner States are translating the EAC Common Market and Customs Union Protocols into policies that support the actualization of free movement of goods and people. In a statement from EABC, Mr. Mathuki urged the business community and officials from Trade Facilitation Agencies to embrace the vision of a borderless East Africa for trade. He also called for open dialogue aimed at coming up with solutions to barriers to the movement of goods and services at the Busia Border. “Let’s talk openly one another to facilitate trade, political goodwill is there, so let’s action, if we don’t get it right at the EAC level it will be more challenging at the AfCFTA level,” said Hon. Mathuki. During the dialogue, Uganda Revenue Authority enlightened small...

The East African Business Council (EABC) and Trade and Markets East Africa (TMA) are calling on East African Community borders to eliminate Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and implement agreed EAC directives to boost intra EAC trade to 50 percent which currently stands at 12 percent. This was said by Hon. Peter Mathuki, EABC CEO on Monday during the the second Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) with Trade Facilitation Agencies at Busia One-Stop Border Post as they interrogated if EAC agreements and practices ease doing business across East African Community borders. The PPDs focus is on the extent to which Partner States are translating the EAC Common Market and Customs Union Protocols into policies that support the actualization of free movement of goods and people. Hon. Mathuki urged the business community and officials from Trade Facilitation Agencies to embrace the vision of a borderless East Africa for trade. He called for open dialogue aimed at coming up with solutions to barriers to the movement of goods and services at the Busia Border. “Let’s talk openly one another to facilitate trade, political goodwill is there, so let’s action, if we don’t get it right at the EAC level it will be more challenging at the AfCFTA level” said Hon. Mathuki. During the dialogue, Uganda Revenue Authority enlightened small-scale trades about the export levy on fish (appx. 0.02% per Kg of fish). Small Scale traders of fish have insufficient knowledge on the levy hence more vulnerable to harassment, corruption, bribes and excessive charges by unscrupulous customs...

Kenya ICT regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has issued a directive regarding the use of the Kenya TradeNet system for import and export of ICT equipment. According to the CA, all firms that take part in international trade and transport logistics in ICT equipment should refer to the Kenya Information and Communications Act 1998 and the Circular on Operationalization and Improvement of Cargo Logistics at Ports of Entry and Inland Container Depots dated 4th June 2019. The document, as well as the parliament Act tasks all firms involved in the business mentioned to use the Kenya Trade Network Agency’s (KenTrade) Kenya TradNet System for the processing of their import and export of ICT equipment. The directive is live as of today. The firms can get access to the system from the Kenya TradNet website. Kenya TradNet is a state corporation that is tasked with the implementation of a Single Window System to facilitate trade. Furthermore, the CA says that applications for type of ICT equipment will be examined and approved by its offices according to the Kenya Information and Communications (Importation, Type Approval and Distribution of Communication Equipment) Regulations, 2010. TradNet is a trade facilitation tool that enables ICT companies involved in international trade to submit regulatory import and export documents and lodge that information via a single platform. The system allows document submissions, processes payments and approves ICT equipment clearance documentation. The exercise is all digital. Source: Techweez

Collaboration between Trademark East Africa (TMA) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa resulted last week in a dinner roundtable to discuss how to make the African Continental Free Trade Area work for women and youth. Speaking at the event, Andrew Mold, Acting Director praised the collaboration between ECA and TMA, saying that such partnerships between ECA, TMA, the African Union Commission, UNCTAD, and others are going to be fundamental in moving forward the regional integration agenda. The roundtable was held in Nairobi on 18th September 2019 and attracted a wide participation of Government officials, business leaders, representatives of women and youth traders of East Africa as well as representatives of international organizations. In his keynote address, Adan Mohamed, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for East African Community and Regional Development, stressed the need to ensure that the wealth created as part of the AFCFTA agreement is inclusive and sustainable: "For the African Continental Free Trade Area to be successful, it is absolutely essential to create an enabling environment for women and youth businesses to prosper", he said. The UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi called on governments not to drag their feet in the implementation of the AfCFTA. In the face of dramatic changes in the global economy, he appealed to African countries to abandon outdated forms of economic nationalism and embrace a regional perspective. Mukhisa also encouraged African leaders and youth to grasp the rapidly growing opportunity of electronic commerce - e-commerce - worth $29 trillion globally or risk quickly falling behind....

The tectonic plates of the global political economy are shifting, and with an accelerating pace: “Trade wars”; “Brexit”; “fake news” and election manipulation; “populism”; the appointment of a “geopolitical commission” in Brussels; unprecedented protests in Hong Kong; South China sea military confrontations; an increasingly assertive Chinese Communist Party—the list goes on. Facing these dramatic changes, smaller, relatively fragile, states, particularly those in Africa, need to build new reference points to anchor their future development or risk being swallowed in the emerging crevasses. Rather than focus on current events Africans need to discern their underlying drivers and how they frame opportunities, as well as responses. The modern world economy is now characterized by a rapidly shifting technological frontier within which several previously distinct realms are now converging. Sub-Saharan Africa could benefit from the increasingly interconnected global economy. At the same time, the United States’ tough response to China’s growing economic heft, as well as increased worldwide backlash to globalization, is incentivizing some economies to look inward. Trade policy and strategy is back in focus with a vengeance, and increasingly contested. How might an Africa caught in the middle of these opposing forces navigate this new global trade environment while maintaining its growth momentum of the last two decades? Trade integration is creating opportunities for growth Under the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” the world of work is transforming, placing ever-higher premiums on skills, curtailing the significance of geographic distance as a main shaper of production patterns, and promoting structural transformation. This new, more...

TANZANIA has displayed before world leaders her great achievements in almost all sectors during President John Magufuli’s four-year reign. Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister Professor Palamagamba Kabudi, addressing the 74th UN General Assembly in New York, highlighted measures by the government to eradicate poverty, offer quality education and health services, restore discipline in public service and improve the country’s infrastructure. He said Tanzania has embraced new strategies to transform the country’s economy for welfare of all Tanzanians, especially the marginalised. Prof Kabudi noted that the main agenda of the government is to eradicate corruption, institute ethics and discipline in public services as well as enhance tax collection to attain speedy socio-economic growth. “The government has in the past four years lived up to its promises through services to the citizens in many aspects, good governance is critical in eradicating poverty and achieving social development,” he said, adding that president Magufuli’s administration has taken bold measures to fight corruption at all levels, including establishment of corruption and economic crimes division of the high court. He told the world leaders from across the globe who gathered at the 74th session of the assembly that Tanzanian government has taken a number of measures to check wasteful public expenditures by improving fiscal discipline, enhancing accountability and transparency. Minister Kabudi stated that the government has been executing various reforms, including proper management of natural resources by enacting laws to protect the country’s wealth. He noted that the reforms and bold leadership have enabled...

Africa, despite being a rich continent endowed with vast natural resources, is still lagging behind other regions of the world when it comes to industrialisation. Member countries still export commodities in their raw form and get next to nothing for these commodities and at the same time spend billions in scarce foreign currency to import finished goods for consumption by their people. African countries are failing to trade among themselves due to ineffective manufacturing industry, even in the wake of the coming on board of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) earlier this year. It is against this background that senior journalists, business writers, and experts from across the continent, as well as experts and representatives from partner organisations this week, met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, to interrogate how the continent can move forward and industrialise. Organised by the Industry Division in the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, the meeting sought to build media awareness on the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA)’s framework and related strategies. As we have previously mentioned, Africa continues to part way with its raw minerals and buying them back as finished products for a high fee from international markets. Exports from the continent remain dominated by unprocessed or minimally processed products, mainly from the agricultural and mineral sectors, resulting in very low-value returns. It should be noted that Africa’s Regional Economic Communities namely the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community...

NAIROBI, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan is likely to seek an extension to become compliant with the requirements of the East African Community (EAC) customs union, an official said on Friday. Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, presidential advisor on economic affairs of South Sudan told Xinhua in Nairobi that the period of three-year that his country was granted to ready itself to assume its role and responsibilities is not sufficient. "The likely course of action is that we will require an additional period of not less than one year to implement the EAC customs union protocol due to challenges of legal frameworks and capacity issues," Sabuni said on the sidelines of the high-level conference on EAC trade integration. The three-day event brought together policymakers and academia from the six partner states to review the level of trade in the economic bloc. In 2016, South Sudan became a member of the six-country trading bloc but is yet to fully implement the customs union and common market protocol. Sabuni noted that for his country to implement the customs union it will require to undertake reforms of its immigration, customs, taxation and labor laws. The custom union requires member states to remove internal tariffs for goods produced within the region and maintain a common external tariff for goods imported into the economic bloc. Sabuni noted that South Sudan is likely to experience loss of revenue of import duty that is currently charged on goods from the EAC partner states once it fully operationalizes the...