The EU and Kenya have announced today the political conclusion of the negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The Agreement will boost trade in goods and create new economic opportunities, with targeted cooperation to enhance Kenya's economic development. It is the most ambitious EU trade deal with a developing country when it comes to sustainability provisions such as climate and environmental protection and labour rights. The negotiations were concluded during an official ceremony in Nairobi by European Commission Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and Cabinet Secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, Hon. Moses Kuria, in the presence of Kenyan President Dr. William Samoei Ruto. The EU is Kenya's first export destination and second largest trading partner, totalling €3.3 billion of trade in 2022 - an increase of 27% compared to 2018. The EPA will create even more opportunities for Kenyan businesses and exporters, as it will at once fully open the EU market for Kenyan products, and it will incentivise EU investment to Kenya thanks to increased legal certainty and stability. Kenya has a pioneering role in sustainability efforts on the African continent and is a reliable ally in the fight against climate change. It co-leads the Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate initiative launched earlier this year, together with the EU, Ecuador and New Zealand. The EU-Kenya EPA builds on this strong track record and is the first agreement with a developing country in which the EU's new approach to trade and sustainable development...

NAIROBI, Kenya - The EAC region still faces fresh trade challenges, despite eliminating ten trade restrictions East African Community Partner States resolved a total of 10 Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) as four (4) new ones emerged. This was revealed during the 42nd Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) that recently took place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The ministers were briefed that eight NTBs remained outstanding and were at different levels of resolution. The Ministerial Session of the 42nd SCTIFI that was chaired by Burundi’s Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Hon. Marie Chantal Nijimbere, consequently directed Partner States to resolve all outstanding NTBs. During the minister’s meeting South Sudan was accused of still charging EAC citizen’s visa fees, specifically those from Rwanda and Burundi, with EAC citizens who had travelled to the country complaining of visa charges at Juba International Airport. The meeting further directed Partner States that still impose visa requirements on EAC citizens to remove the requirement by November 2023. The Ministers expressed concern that Partner States still impose visa requirements on EAC citizens and emphasised the need to expeditiously remove the requirements, adding that such requirements could also hinder access to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The meeting observed that it was high time the Community considered putting in place a borderless bloc to facilitate the smooth flow of capital services and goods. Among the resolved NTBs were a 25% excise duty imposed by Kenya on...

The Ugandan government, through the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, has expressed concern about South Sudan’s decision to impound its maize flour due to allegations that it is contaminated with aflatoxins. Uganda has also requested that the dozens of trucks impounded at the Elegu border post while transporting the said maize flour be released. Reports indicate that in the past two weeks, over 40 Ugandan registered trucks transporting maize flour have been impounded on their way to Juba by South Sudan Bureau of Standards.  It is said that these trucks are held up in an isolated parking yard 7kms into South Sudan and the major reason for impounding them is that they are carrying aflatoxin affected maize flour which is not fit for human consumption. In a letter by Edith Mwanje, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of East African Affairs in Uganda to her counterpart Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth of South Sudan, she noted that they had been informed that the impounded consignments failed to pass the rapid tests which were conducted at Nimule border and they await confirmatory results as samples have been exported for further investigation.  “However, there is no clear time line as to when the confirmatory results shall be available,” she said. Mwanje further pointed out that it is now over two weeks since the first consignments was impounded and this is fuelling a strike by the affected parties at Elegu-Nimule border. In order to solve the impass, Ugandan authorities have asked their counterparts...

The United Natioms General assembly adopted a resolution in 2018 declaring June 7th as the World Food Safety Day (WFSD) celebrations. This annual event aims to raise awareness of food safety’s  importance and promote action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. In commemoration of the 2023 World Food Safety Day (WFSD), the African Union Commission, East African Community, the Government of Kenya, TradeMark Africa, MESPT, and Partners organized an event from 5 to 7 June 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya to raise awareness on food safety. The meeting was held under the theme “Food Standards Save Lives”. The objectives of the summit were to: i.         Raise awareness of the importance of food safety and to promote action to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. ii.         Provide a platform for sharing experiences and best practices on implementation and compliance with food safety standards and measures. iii.         Foster collaboration and partnerships among stakeholders to amplify the impact of food safety interventions in Africa.The Summit brought together 220 participants from 30 African Union member states, 2 RECs (EAC, ECOWAS), AUC, and Development Partners (EU, USAID, DANIDA).WE the Member States of the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, Development Partners, Food Producers, Processors, Marketers and Consumers. RECALLING the momentum created from the previous World Food Safety Day celebrations, and desirous of collaborating in unison to focus efforts on reaching state and non-state actors as well as those directly involved in food systems on...

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga says government is coming up with a facility that will allow trade between government and the private sector to be done on digital e-Commerce platforms. Mr. Chipoka says digitisation of businesses is critical in providing ease of doing and limiting the cost of doing business. The commerce minister disclosed this during a Roundtable discussion dubbed “Accelerating the Recovery of COMESA Member States from COVID19 focusing on Green Investment, Value Addition and Tourism” He added that digitisation and the use of e-Commerce in doing business further limits human interaction which also results in stopping corrupt activities. “We believe that digitisation of how we do business is critical on how we provide ease of doing business, limiting the cost of doing business and limit also, human interaction which also results in stopping, to a large extent, corrupt activities in government. We are also coming up with a facility where trade between government and the private sector should be done on a digital e-Commerce platform where there is no acquisition of delays coming in from human activities,” said Mr. Chipoka. He added that the COVID19 pandemic that affected many African countries reminded most African governments of the need for homegrown solutions to socio-economic challenges. Mr. Chipoka said it was against this background that government deliberately established the Ministry of Science and Technology stressing that innovation is something that societies have to depend on. He said in order to achieve digitisation, government has chosen a principle...

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary in charge of East African Community Affairs Rebecca Miano says she has held talks with her counterpart in Tanzania over the export crisis at the Namanga border, where more than 200 maize-laden trucks were stranded over permits, and a solution is on the cards. Miano told The EastAfrican on Thursday that she had been in talks with Stergomena Tax, Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, to unlock the impasse at the border, which has lasted over two weeks. Trucks loaded with maize from Tanzania were barred from crossing into Kenya after the Tanzanian authorities stopped issuing maize exportation permits. Cross-border importers have termed the change in policy by Dodoma as a re-emergence of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), especially on food trade, even as the Community continues to seek resolution to these challenges. “Tanzania changed its rules on maize exportation. This caused a problem in Namanga,” Miano said on Thursday. The minister, speaking from Lusaka, Zambia, where she had accompanied President William Ruto to a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Summit, said: “I spoke to my counterpart in Tanzania, Hon Tax, and she has assured me that the matter will be sorted out today (Thursday).” By press time, at least 200 trucks, all carrying an average of 6,000 tonnes of maize, had been allowed to cross the border after the talks between the two countries, but a majority were yet to fully comply with Tanzania’s regulations. Tanzania Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe blamed the impasse...

Geneva — The African Continental Free Trade Area accord is one of the most critical developments in African trade and integration, says the executive director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the UN agency supporting small business. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, who began her career in Jamaica’s foreign ministry and now heads the ITC, recently met journalists at the centre’s base in Geneva, where she spoke about “strategic re-globalization” as a major trend. The AfCFTA was established in 2018, and by 2023 all 54 members of the African Union had signed it, making it the largest free-trade area after the World Trade Organization (WTO) judged by the number of its member states. Coke-Hamilton described strategic re-globalization as “the new search for global corridors for trade routes” as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war and post-Covid changes. She said the disruption of supply channels and a recognition that dependence on China is immense has led to the world looking for “near-shoring” and new supply routes. Mandated to UN and WTO The ITC has a joint mandate with the WTO and the United Nations through the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and much of its work focuses on Africa. The task of trade groups was now to assess new trends and address how strategic re-globalization is going to impact how countries engage with one another, Coke-Hamilton added. She said that “the AfCFTA is also a whole new open arena” in which the focus would be on regional value chains within Africa and “how those are...

The African Union Commission (AUC), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Afreximbank, have jointly established a task force to develop a harmonised methodology for informal cross-border trade data collection. According to them, timely data collection on informal cross-border trade is key to informing intra-African trade on the back of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) and despite its importance to the livelihoods of millions of Africans, informal trade is still not well understood. Speaking at an online meeting to review and validate the Continental Methodology for Informal Cross-Border Trade Data Collection in Africa, Director, Regional Integration and Trade, ECA, Stephen Karingi, said informal cross-border trade is a key feature of Africa’s trade landscape. Findings show ICBT to be equivalent to between seven and 16 per cent of all formal intra-African trade flows and between 30 and 72 per cent of formal trade between neighbouring countries. He noted that current efforts to collect data on ICBT within the continent remain largely fragmented and unsystematic, emphasising that the dearth of reliable and regular data on ICBT has contributed to minimal recognition of its important role in policy frameworks. Trade Policy Officer for the AUC, Tapiwa Cheuka, speaking on behalf of the Director of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, Industry and Mining Department, AUC, Djamel Ghrib, said that the validated ICBT methodology will be presented to the Specialised Technical Committees (STCs) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration next month with the anticipation for its adoption by the Heads...

In addition, they agreed on the establishment of a civilian head of mission to coordinate all political-related matters of the East African Regional Force (EACRF). The East African heads of state have directed the EAC Secretariat and the council to commence negotiations with Somalia with immediate effect and report to the next ordinary summit of the EAC heads of state. According to a communique on the 21st Extra-Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State meeting in Bujumbura, Burundi, dated May 31, 2023, the heads of state deliberated on and adopted the report of the verification of the application of the Federal Republic of Somalia to join the EAC. The communique noted that Somalia had earlier circulated a report to the EAC partner states. Summit resolutions During the summit, the heads of state accepted a request from President Museveni to hold a follow-up meeting in Nairobi to be hosted by Kenya’s President Willian Ruto. The summit appreciated the financial contributions of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Sudan for their commitment to contribute towards peace and security. The summit also directed the EAC secretary general to intensify efforts to mobilize resources from the regional and international partners to support the EAC-Led Nairobi Process. In addition, the summit urged all the partners to support initiatives including the demobilisation of combatants of armed groups and their reinsertion and reintegration into civilian groups. DRC Conflict The heads of state reiterated that the security in the eastern region of DRC can only be sustainably resolved through...

Malawi and Tanzania have launched an electronic data exchange system interface to enable verification of quantities, valuation, origin and tariffs of goods exported and transiting between the two countries. The system interface, to be managed by Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), was launched on Monday at Kasumulu Border Post in Mbeya, Tanzania. Before the system, data was being exchanged manually, leading to delays and movement of contrabands from Malawi to Tanzania or vice versa without detection. In his presentation, MRA custom systems and procedures manager Andrew Mtukuleni said the collaboration will promote trade facilitation, enhance revenue collection, and secure the movement of goods under imports, exports and transit regimes. “We now anticipate advance exchange of trade data for risk management purposes and increased detection of contraband leading to secure supply chains,” he said. MRA corporate services executive director Agnes Katsonga-Phiri said the system will enable the institution to know how much revenue would be collected. She said: “Having the system can be an achievement on its own, but if the human capital does not change mindset, we will not achieve much. “We expect honesty and those traders should not stand for too long before being assisted.” TRA deputy commissioner general Mcha Hassan Mcha said smuggling remains a major challenge. “We think that with this system interface, we will reduce the malpractice because it simplifies the procedure as most traders will be using it rather than going to unofficial routes,” he said. The system interface has been...