Key tourism stakeholders from across Eastern Africa will have their first opportunity in Kigali tomorrow, September 3, to see Carmen Nibigira in action, since she took over from Waturi Wa Matu who left the organization to join Trade Mark East Africa. The meeting will take place as a collaboration between the Rwanda Development Board and fellow tourism boards and Rwanda as the host country will be holding a networking session in Kigali for tourism stakeholders from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Taking place at the Kigali Serena Hotel Conference Centre this will follow the morning session of ‘Conversation about Conservation’ which RDB has also organized as part of their annual ‘Kwita Izina’ festival week celebrating the conservation efforts towards the endangered mountain gorillas. The EATP networking session is geared to offer stakeholders a platform to start a conversation about intra-inter-regional tourism collaboration in East Africa. Highlighted will be some of the significant topics of why selling the region as one single tourist destination is a smart and sound way forward. With the EAC Single Tourist Visa and the use of national IDs for traveling within the 3 countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, EATP thrives to see now a more integrated the tourism sector. This platform will encourage stakeholders to introduce and sell multi country packages, improve cross- border economic and tourism growth which are the main objectives of this networking session. The vision of East Africa Tourism Platform is to see a vibrant and diverse single tourist destination that...

Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai, is leading a trade mission to Kenya in a bid to further strengthen bilateral exchanges and connect more and more UAE businesses to the promising East African markets. The five-day mission will include conferences, business-to-business (B2B) meetings and site visits in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa. Political stability and competitive human capital along with a strong agricultural sector and transport infrastructure have enabled Kenya to lead the East African Community (EAC) by way of a 40% GDP share. In 2014 Kenya was ranked 136 by the World Bank in the Ease of Doing Business and 133 in Trade Across Borders. In Mombasa the Dubai Exports mission organised a business forum together with the local government, supported by the UAE embassy in Kenya. A series of meetings with senior officials, buyers, and government agencies was also organised and field visits conducted to a number of companies in Nairobi and Mombasa. More than 100 B2B meetings were also held as part of familiarising UAE companies with government tenders and export procedures. “We are delighted to be partners with Dubai Exports in organising this event, which indeed is a strategic opportunity to highlight export opportunities for UAE companies. Kenya is regarded as the fast growing in Africa in light of the economic boom in the region around us,” said His Excellency Ali Hassan Joho, Governor of Mombasa. “We will support the UAE companies and seek to learn...

East African Community Secretariat, Kampala, Uganda, 1st September, 2015: The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said that Africa and many developing countries face the challenge of high and growing youth unemployment, which if not addressed can potentially be a source of instability as has been the case in North Africa. The President, who was this afternoon officiating at the official opening of the 1st East African Manufacturing Business Summit and Exhibition 2015 (EAMBS’15) at the Speke Resort, Munyonyo in Kampala, Uganda said many African youth had lost lives as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of employment opportunities in Europe. In a speech read on his behalf by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, President Museveni said “this is a painful lesson and we as leaders must think of a collective regional strategy to respond to unemployment including expanding the manufacturing sector capacity, promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and youth entrepreneurs. President Museveni urged the private sector to invest sufficient funds in research, technology and innovation and called on both the public and private sectors to come up with a regional research, technology and innovation network to serve as a vehicle for fostering collaborative research and transfer of technology into the sector. The President noted that EAC Partner States were giving high priority to the development of infrastructure and energy, which were critical for efficient operations of the manufacturing sector in particular, and facilitating business, and...

The management of Tanzania International Container Terminal Services Ltd (TICTS) has commended the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) for ongoing massive improvement at the Dar es Salaam port. Talking during his welcoming remarks to mark the arrival of the longest vessel ever to be handled at the Dar es Salaam port, TICTS Chief Executive Officer, Mr Paul Wallace, called the event as extremely important. "We see strong operational improvements in productivity and performance at the port, which provides the confidence for Maersk Line to commit this scale of vessel to the East African trade," he said over the weekend. He explained that the coming of the vessel was testimony to the cooperation of all port stakeholders to push the boundaries and demonstrate that the Dar es Salaam port was well and truly open for business. The vessel with 255(LOA) meters long arrived in Tanzania on Wednesday and berthed at the Container Terminal operated by TICTS on the following day. The ship named Clemens Schulte has a capacity to carry 5,466 containers and is operated by Maersk Line. The Dar es Salaam port is undergoing massive transformation to improve its physical infrastructural capacity and enhance operational efficiency. Among the improvements going on at Dar es Salaam port is the implementation of Integrated Electronic Payment System (IePS) for all port dues and the Integrated Security System (ISS) to enhance security and installation of CCTV. The port in collaboration with other stakeholders is now operating 24/7. "We are proud of our port, we are...

TradeMark Africa says it supports upgrading of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports, not for them to compete against each other, but to serve the region better in the wake of booming trade. The TMA Board of Directors Chairman, Mr Ali Mufuruki, said last week that their support to improve physical capacity and efficiency at the two ports was not focused on competition but to help them optimise their potential as “they operate far below their capabilities.” “I don’t think the ports are in competition I don’t understand the logic of one port competing with the other,” he told reporters in Nairobi during the inauguration of TMA’s new board in Nairobi. He said they do not see the two ports competing but rather complementing each other with the Dar port serving Tanzania and other landlocked neighbouring countries through the Central Corridor and Mombasa serving Nairobi and the neighbours through the Northern corridor. TMA, DFID and World Bank are supporting upgrading of the Dar port in a 565 million US dollars project started last year to improve infrastructure, productivity, dialogue processes and to roll out an electronic single window system. It is expected the project will boost cargo handling capacity from 14.6 million tonnes in 2013/14 to 28 million by 2020. TMA is also working with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to implement a proposed Mombasa port development programme to improve productivity and optimize supply chains for the different cargo trades. Jointly with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it organized a...

Even as recent trade wars in the East African Community have mostly featured Kenya and Uganda over sugar exports, Kampala has for the past two months been locked in a dispute with Tanzania over an 18 per cent value added tax on the latter's rice. The EastAfrican has learnt that tens of thousands of tonnes of rice grown and produced in Tanzania are either lying at Mutukula and Port Bell or in other border towns on the Tanzanian side. Uganda says it is invoking its internal law as opposed to the EAC laws. Article 15 (1) and (2) of the EAC Customs Union Protocol prevents discrimination and imposition of internal tax on products of partner states. The five EAC partner states have not yet harmonised domestic tax laws and as such, Uganda's VAT Act applies in this case, according to Moses Egwapu, a tax policy officer at the Ministry of Finance. "Why should rice from Tanzania not pay VAT? The VAT Act states that rice from outside Uganda attracts VAT... VAT is a domestic tax," Mr Egwapu told The EastAfrican. Mr Egwapu added that the VAT Act applies to all rice imports so as to protect the local industry and give incentive to Ugandan millers to add value to their rice. This, however, plays into the same nationalistic and protectionist motives that Kenya was using to block Ugandan sugar millers from exporting their excess sugar to Kenya to which Kampala responded by blocking beef imports from Kenya, until Presidents Yoweri...

ARUSHA, Tanzania, 31 August 2015 / PRN Africa / — Strong regional economic communities (RECs) are the key to Africa's long term goal of creating a vibrant, united and prosperous continent. South Africa's High Commissioner to Tanzania and the East African Community, His Excellency Thamsanqa D. Mseleku, said his country was committed to the creation of strong and viable RECs across the entire continent, adding that RECs were the surest way to achieve the founding fathers' dream of Pan-Africanism. RECs are the first step to the African Union's ultimate goal of creating an African Economic Community. Amb. Mseleku said South Africa was keen to ensure that African countries build on the gains made in regional integration, democratisation, economic growth, good governance, security and political stability. He noted that while Africa had made significant gains in these areas, there were still major challenges to be surmounted citing the situations in Burundi, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Somalia. "On the economic front, there are sudden problems emerging in the world which have a negative impact on African economies most of which are mainly resource based," he said. The envoy said his country was open to increased cooperation and partnerships with the EAC, which he described as Africa's fastest growing economic bloc. Amb. Mseleku was speaking when he presented his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The High Commissioner was accompanied by Mr Manqoba Mdluli, the Third Secretary Political Affairs...

Though East Africa’s garment manufacturing potential is hindered by poor infrastructure and cumbersome Customs processes, exports are expected to grow as Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda attract more investment. According to consulting firm McKinsey, East Africa will remain a niche market for garment makers over the next decade but its success will depend on the existence of free trade agreements with the US and the European Union. With $700 million in annual exports over the next 10 years, East Africa will capture only a small slice of the global sourcing market but the industry’s impact will still be important for the region. Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda account for 0.07 per cent of global exports, earning $337 million. East Africa may be a new alternative for selected large players in basic categories with investment rising, leading annual exports to grow to $1 billion in five years and $1.7 billion annually in the next decade. “East Africa could move beyond cut, make, and trim (CMT) facilities, but this process could take several years before significant numbers of vertically integrated, domestic players appear in the region,” said Saskia Hedrich, who is based in McKinsey Munich office. She said the industry base in the region will attract funds to upgrade facilities and skilled workers to become a major force in the apparel sector over the next decade. Duty-free access to the United States provided by Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) is one of the drivers, but the region’s garment manufacturers are looking...

Rwanda's service sector has pushed the country’s first quarter GDP growth to 7.5 per cent, even as the manufacturing and agriculture sectors in the region, which registered a decline, pulled down the overall growth numbers of the bloc’s economies. The economies had predicted a rise in their growth rates but poor performance by several key sectors is putting this in doubt. Rwanda remains the only regional economy on course, with private sector–led growth being its biggest GDP contributor. Yusuf Murangwa, director-general of Rwanda’s National Institute of Statistics, said that the country’s GDP grew by 7.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year. “We have seen an average growth of 10 per cent in the trade, education, finance, insurance, transport and communications sectors,” said Mr Murangwa. The government has been keen on attracting investment in the tourism, ICT and insurance sectors. By 2014, ICT services exports had hit the $4 million mark and are expected to register $11 million by the end of this year. Rwanda is also investing in RwandAir to boost tourism earnings, its key foreign exchange earner. It aims to expand the sector’s annual turnover from the current $46 million to more than $350 million by 2018. Tanzania saw a negative performance in the agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors slowing its economy. The economy grow by 6.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year from a high of 8.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2014. According to Tanzania’s National Bureau of Statistics,...

Intra-African trade increased by 50 per cent to $61 billion between 2010 and 2013, according to recent data released by the African Development Bank. The rise is attributed to improved market access and a strong growth in re-exports among African countries. The increase marks a strategic shift in internal trade on the continent, which was previously relatively low compared with trade flows from the European Union and China, observers say. Poor quality roads and highways connecting national borders; non-tariff barriers and insecurity are blamed for the weak growth posted by intra-African trade in the past. Recorded trade flows within the East African Community have grown by an average of less than 15 per cent per annum since 2005 compared with an average growth rate of 20-25 per cent per year in trade activity between the bloc and the Eurozone, research shows. Africa’s trade with Europe grew to $430 billion between 2010 and 2013 while the value of trade flows with China increased to $210 billion during the same period, AfDB data shows. The growth of intra-African trade has the potential to reduce unemployment, household poverty and increase tax revenues. Economists cite increased access to trade routes within economic blocs on the continent for the sharp growth in intra-African trade, with big economies such as Egypt posting bigger export volumes within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in recent times. Though latest data on the country’s exports was not available by press time, Egypt’s manufacturing sector is currently...