On June 10, 2015, at the 25th African Union Summit in Cairo, Egypt, African leaders signed the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA). Prior to its signing, the agreement had been in negotiations for seven years. Several bodies have existed in Africa to foster regional economic integration: the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA). TFTA intends to unite three of these existing blocks, SADC, EAC, and COMESA, into one unified region. In doing so, the agreement renews the long-standing dream of an economically-integrated entity stretching from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa. If ratified, the agreement will create the largest free trade zone in the continent’s history with a membership of over 26 African states, a population of 632 million, an area of 17.3 million square kilometers, total trade of US$1.2 trillion, and 60% of continental output. TFTA also establishes a framework to bring in the Central and West African nations that are currently excluded from the agreement at a later date, which would create an even larger free trade zone across the entire continent. Details of the TFTA TFTA seeks to fulfill three main pillars: market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development. In terms of intra-regional trade flows, Africa is the least...

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has described the East African Community (EAC) as a great African dream that is fast becoming a reality. Uhuru made the remarks, yesterday, while addressing the Ugandan parliament during his three-day state visit to the country. "It is the fastest integrating region in Africa, and one of the fastest in the world. Our Northern Corridor Integration projects have led the way," Kenyatta told the House. "One example is the Standard Gauge Railway, whose construction, starting in Mombasa, is progressing on schedule. Upon its completion, it will dramatically reduce cargo transport costs by 60 per cent, to the benefit of Ugandan businesses, farmers and consumers alike." The Northern Corridor is the transport network that links the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Burundi to Kenya's Maritime Port of Mombasa. Kenyatta's visit was dominated by bilateral talks on trade, regional security and the ambitious infrastructural projects under the Northern Corridor that the two countries share. He said his country is expanding the port of Mombasa and taking steps to rapidly improve its efficiency. "We are also going ahead with the development of the LAPSSET project, which will offer the region yet another world-class outlet for its goods," he added. Source: All Africa

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed the importance of benefiting from three trade agreements signed with African countries topped by the agreement reached recently in Sharm El-Sheikh between the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development community (SADC). During a meeting on Monday 10/8/2015 with a delegation representing newspapers in some African countries, the President said he has been keen since coming to office on openness to Africa and boosting ties with African countries. Presidential Spokesman Alaa Youssef said the President welcomed the African journalists during the meeting, which came days after the inauguration of the New Suez Canal project. He said the President affirmed the new project is in parallel with the efforts to boost transport movement, including the project of linking Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. The President discussed with African journalists aspects of cooperation between Egypt and African countries, pointing out that such cooperation is not limited to technical support to them but also extended to important partnerships, added the spokesman. He said the President pointed out that the cancer hospital in Egypt received 600 medics from the Nile basin countries who received training during the past three years. Sisi stressed the importance of cooperation in the fields of combating terrorism and said the terror combat must not be limited to security, but rather must be through economic and social issues. The President said the State respects and appreciates the role of media and did not put...

The Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) in partnership with FoodTrade Eastern and Southern Africa has launched the G-Soko Platform. This is an online trading service that links smallholder farmers to grain buyers through a networked and structured market mechanism. Gerald Masila, the Executive Director of EAGC said recently in Nairobi, “Right now there is urgency to expand regional food trade due to the exponential growth of staple food imports. “Linking rural food surplus production zones in Eastern Africa to major deficit urban consumption centres requires a well-functioning regional market. We wanted to address this deficiency but also do it in a way that is inclusive and effective. This is why we developed G-Soko; a market transaction platform that will enhance food trade across borders, and contribute towards making trading more transparent,” Masila said. According to a release, the platform will allow farmers to easily sell their products at a favourable prices and this should help stabilise the food supply chain in East Africa because of guaranteed market access. The G-Soko platform was developed by Virtual City, a leading mobile software solutions firm supporting the supply chain and agribusiness industry in Africa. Virtual City Managing Director, John Waibochi said, “The model addresses the challenge of funds inadequacy by devising affordable export/import financing modalities. It creates synergies from the small scale farmers to the bulk buyers based on tested market structures.” He said, “This system also enhances traceability of grains. Its Grain Bulking feature allows farmers to consolidate and sell their grains...

Egypt’s Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade is looking to double its exports of agricultural crops and is looking to African markets to realise this goal. Through free trade agreements with Nigeria and Senegal (with more between West and Central Africa on the way) the North African nation is seeking to trade with notable African markets such as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, highlighted that Egypt had already reached a preliminary agreement with IMO in 2004. After negotiations were halted, the ministry is now seeking to reach a final agreement through the current negotiations. Abdel Nour added that the volume of African total product amounts to $2.5 trillion, that annual exports amounts to about $599.5 billion and that total annual imports are worth $605 billion. However, Egypt’s share of these amounts is no more than $4 billion. Egypt is developing its trade relations with the rest of the continent based on three approaches: Re-forming Egypt’s mutual interests with other African countries, moving from merely water-based interests to achieving broader economic outcomes Strengthening Egypt’s presence in African markets by leveraging its commodities; the ministry seeks to transform the country into a major supplier of goods to needy African countries Increase the size of the technical assistance provided by Egypt which assist with social and economic development.   Abdel Nour said: “The ministry implemented important steps to strengthen cooperation with Africa,...

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged the East African region to harness its "shared identities" as the strongest asset to develop its economy. Addressing the Ugandan Parliament in Kampala on Monday, President Kenyatta said the close ties between the people of Kenya and Uganda should encourage similar policies that would guide the region out of poverty. "It is such shared identities and people-to-people links that tie our partnership. We will need these links more than before in future," he told Ugandan MPs. Mr Kenyatta, who was on his first ever state visit to Uganda since his election, used the podium to challenge the region to reorganise policies if they have to catch up with the 'Asian Tigers'- the emerging economies of the Far East. These 'Tigers' include Malaysia and Singapore, "countries who have managed to move from wretched poverty to great wealth in just two generations." Of concern to him is corruption and poor governance, which he argued were eating into any progress the two countries make. Standard gauge railway Both Uganda and Kenya belong to the East African Community, which also includes Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. The region has been involved in key infrastructure projects such as the multibillion-dollar standard gauge railway, improving the Port of Mombasa and reducing road blocks on goods in transit. But President Kenyatta admitted there are "enemies" who may want to stand in the way of these projects. He never named them, but hinted at corrupt officials and political detractors who he argued posed...

EAST African Community countries need to engage the private sector when formulating business laws and regulations to accelerate integration under the bloc's common market protocol, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said. He said such consultations will help better the region's business environment, helping firms thrive and spark faster economic growth. Speaking during a business forum on his three-day state visit to west-neighbouring Uganda that ends today, Uhuru however emphasised that companies need to become more innovative and competitive to remain relevant in a highly globalising market. The president held bilateral talks with his host, President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday, focusing on security, anti-terrorism, trade and investment. In a statement to newsrooms yesterday, the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit said the two countries are working on a framework to forge increased collaboration of companies. This will hel;p take advantage of the proposed 700-million people tripartite market bringing together EAC, Comesa and Southern Africa Development Community 26 member countries. The framework will be coordinated by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and its counterpart in Uganda, guided by a memorandum of understanding that the two have signed. Uganda remain's Kenya's largest trading partners with trade volumes of Sh88.88 billion ($880 million) last year, including Sh70.7 billion($700 million) in exports and Sh18.18 billiin in imports($180 million) in imports. “Last year, in keeping with our recent history, the volume of trade between us made Uganda one of Kenya’s most vital trading partners,” Museveni said. Source: The Star

EAST African Community may have a common custom bond in two weeks as the bloc races to enhance faster movement of goods across the five member countries, the Kenya Revenue Authority has said. This is part of the proposed Regional Customs Transit Guarantee, a regime that will ensure authorities in a transit country receive proper payment for dues and duties for goods passing through their territories. The RCTG bonds scheme is designed to fast-track movement of goods under the customs seals. Value of custom bonds presently vary from one country to another because of different duty rates and valuation of goods. “This(RCTG) will put in place a mechanism which the importing country can recover revenue in case of an incidence," KRA commissioner general John Njiraini said. "Once that is completed in one or two weeks, we will now be rolling out further products that will then be secured through this system.” The RCTG was first introduced in 2012 for three countries along Northern corridor – Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda – to facilitate movement of goods from the port of Mombasa to the hinterland. Tanzania joined joined on April 9, this year. Introduction of uniform bonds for the EAC countries is part of the ongoing implementation of the Single Customs Territory system which was launched in October 2013. The SCT allows for assessment and collection of taxes at the port of entry. Its implementation which is in phases is currently at 50 per cent, according to the EAC secretariat. KRA said...

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) Member States are fine tuning modalities of setting up a single customs regime in order to promote cross border trade, have officials. Heads of revenue authorities from Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, who met in Nairobi, said that countries have been harmonizing policy and legislative frameworks to fast-track the establishment of a single customs territory (SCT). "The process of establishing a single customs territory in the region has not encountered any hitches and would be completed in three years time," Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini said in Nairobi. East African Heads of States have approved the uniform customs regime to ease cross border movement of goods and services The regional countries in 2012 commenced the process of establishing a single customs territory as a means to boost cross border trade, revenue collection and ease of doing business. The EAC is targeting the creation of a political federation, a borderless single state made up of the five countries, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, led by a single president and exercising a single foreign policy. To get the vision of a single state in motion, the Arusha-based EAC Secretariat has been working towards a foreign policy, a common defence policy, a customs union, which is currently in place and the Monetary Union, which aims at a single currency. Njiraini noted that significant ground has been covered since the process of establishing a regional customs regime commenced. "We have covered...

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 7 – East African nations are integrating their customs systems to make it possible to have a regional bond for goods in transit. Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini says the bonds scheme is designed to fast-track movement of goods under customs seals in the East Africa region. Value of customs bonds vary from country to country because of different duty rates and valuation of goods. In Kenya, the current procedure requires importers of transit goods to secure a customs bond issued by an insurance company, whilst ‘sensitive’ cargo such as clothes, wines and spirits, tyres and tubes, shoes, electronic goods, second-hand clothes, food commodities (sugar and rice) require a bank or cash guarantee. The customs bond in Uganda is issued by an insurance company and is cancelled upon presentation of a copy CD-COM duly stamped by customs officers of the post of exit. Rwanda also requires a bond in cash. “The adoption of common external tariffs and the introduction of a regional bond guarantee scheme should solve this problem,” said Njiraini during a regional meeting in Nairobi that discussed the implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory (SCT) projects. The meeting comes ahead of the forthcoming 11th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit, to be held in Nairobi. The one day meeting brought together the Commissioners General of Revenue Authorities from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss cargo clearance time and costs. The commissioners discussed the implementation of the...