Five countries in East Africa are at different phases of implementing an electronic cargo clearing systems at the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to address the problem of container and cargo congestion at the two ports, cut down on operational costs and increase revenue for governments in the region. The cargo clearing system is being backed by a new cargo tracking system that eliminates dumping and theft of cargo in transit along the northern transport corridor anchored on the port of Mombasa and the Central transport corridor that is supported by the port of Dar es Salaam. The two ports have recorded growth in the number of containers and volumes of cargo in the last 10 years as East Africa’s economic performance surged to 6.3% by 2015 compared to the sub Saharan Africa’s average of 4.2% at the time. Inefficiencies at the two ports, which have greatly been addressed for the last two years, led to extended ship dwell times, spatial constraints especially at port terminals as clearance of containers and general cargo took too long. Incidents of dumping and theft of goods in transit have also been reported previously because of lack of an efficient system to monitor cargo movement from port to warehouse. At the port of Dar es Salaam, the World Bank estimates an annual loss of $2.6 billion for Tanzania and neighboring countries that rely on the gateway for international trade such as Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and parts of...

Members of African regional trading blocs have been asked to hasten implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to reduce cross border trade costs in a bid to grow economies. Mr Erastus Mwencha, the former Deputy Chairman of the Africa Union Commission, said the efficiency of trade hinges on the support of regional blocs such as the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in adopting a more open stance on trading with each other. Mr Mwencha said the TFA would bring about new markets and cost reduction gains. “We must minimise cross border costs in Africa,” said Mr Mwencha. “When the trade facilitation agreement was introduced globally, it showed that if it is implemented optimally there will be a cost reduction of up to 14 per cent. This will add to the global trade value of about $1 trillion.” Mr Mwencha was speaking at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies during the Second World Customs Organisation East and Southern Africa Regional Conference in Nairobi last week. It was hosted by the World Customs Organisation Regional Training Centre (WCO RTC Kenya). Delegates from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) and SADC attended the conference where they discussed the impact and the implications of the TFA. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was represented by Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, its Secretary General, who elaborated on the steps they were...

Ours is a continent rich in resources. From the coffee beans and cotton to mineral ores and oil wells, Africa is world-renowned for its raw materials. However, exporting raw materials alone will not allow Africa to reach its potential. Indeed, the recent slump in global commodity prices has served as a harsh reminder that our traditional reliance on raw materials needs to evolve. It is only by transforming our commodities into value added goods that Africa will reap the full benefits of our natural strengths. Transforming our resources will create larger profit margins, growth and jobs. This transformation will, however, require a big industrialisation drive across the continent to foster trade and growth. Advertisement In the wake of Africa Industrialisation Day, which this year reflected on how to accelerate Africa’s progress towards the creation of a Continental Free Trade Area, we must also consider the supporting infrastructure required to make this pre-eminent objective a reality. All economies – on the global scale, but also on the regional and local level – demand a high level of circulation, which is only possible through the development of the necessary infrastructure. In Africa, the lack of infrastructure is one of the greatest inhibitions preventing transformative growth. Ours is the only continent in the world without a transcontinental railway; in a continent where 16 out of 54 countries are landlocked, this is a real issue. Our infrastructure development therefore needs to be multimodal, ensuring that our coastlines are connected to our railways, airways and...

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) announced on Thursday its plans for the Dakar-Port Sudan rail network project, which will link West and East Africa. Ambassador Hameed Opeloyeru, OIC assistant secretary general for economic affairs, announced an alliance with the African Union as the sponsor of the Dakar-Djibouti transport project, which is similar to the OIC scheme. He was delivering a speech on behalf of Yousef Al-Othaimeen, OIC secretary-general, during a session in Istanbul on the sidelines of the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC). Opeloyeru said that ensuring the continued engagement of regional organizations — the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) — as part of OIC’s Dakar-Port Sudan railroad network project would help to implement regional projects along the OIC transport corridor of the Dakar-Port Sudan railroad while addressing the challenges that may impede financing the project. He said that the OIC aims to strengthen its cooperation with non-States members — such as China — to ensure their participation in the Dakar-Port Sudan rail project through contributing to capacity building and providing entrepreneurs and business owners with financial support. It wanted to ensure that the project would be a meeting point with China’s Silk Road transport infrastructure project, “One way – one belt.” “This multi-stakeholder approach will further increase the engagement of state members involved in OIC’s Dakar-Port Sudan railroad project, which will serve as...

TradeMark Africa (TMA), through funding from UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Global Affairs Canada, has so far funded the construction and operationalisation of 15 OSBP including Busia, Malaba, Kabanga/Kobero; Holili/Taveta and Mirama Hill/Kagitumba across the region since 2010 among others. The facilities includes; office buildings, roads and parking yards, cargo verification bays, scanner shed, passenger sheds, targeting booths, warehouse and canopies, ICT networks and hardware, furniture and institutional support to the border agencies. Mutukula One Stop Border Post, which connects Uganda and Tanzania, was the latest to be launched by President Yoweri Museveni and John Pombe Magufuli on Nov. 09.Only Nimule/Elegu border that connects Uganda and South Sudan is yet to be completed. Frank Matsaert, the Chief Executive Officer of TradeMark Africa, said they expect a US$30 return for every dollar spent as the time for clearance at the region’s borders reduce going forward. “Our investmentin these borders is geared towards trade facilitation in the region,” he said, “adding that for countries like Uganda to achieve middle income status, they must reduce on the transport costs.” This is because OSBP works in a way that it brings together immigration and customs officials from two neighbouring countries under one roof at the border crossing point, doing away with need for trucks and persons to undergo clearance twice at both sides of the border. For instance, preliminary survey since the operationalisation of Mutukula OSBP early this year, indicates that the time to cross from Uganda to Tanzania has reduced by...

On Monday, the East African Community (EAC) and the Federal Republic of Germany signed an agreement for supporting health and education sectors in the region to the tune of EUR 35 million, translating into more than 95bn/-. In appreciation and acknowledgement of the EAC’s efforts to immunize every child, Germany has been supporting the immunisation programme in the region in close collaboration with the EAC and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, since 2013. The region has made great progress in introducing new, life-saving vaccines. But according to a statement from the EAC Secretariat here, challenges remain in reaching out to children in remote areas, achieving high coverage rates for newly introduced vaccines and acceptable coverage rates in the new EAC partner state South Sudan. Germany is thus contributing EUR 30 million to immunization programmes in the EAC. The project is successfully being implemented by Gavi, the vaccine alliance, in close collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the partner states’ immunisation programmes. Germany’s total contribution to the EAC immunisation programmes thus amounts to a total of EUR 120 million. Germany will also contribute EURO 5 million to the EAC for a scholarship programme in cooperation with the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA). The goal of this programme is to promote EAC’s regional integration agenda by supporting higher education students and their role in fostering awareness for the East African integration process, creating social change as well as economic growth. The scholarship programme is designed as...

Africa’s huge growth in trade and its diversification of partners over the past two decades has not helped in expanding its export basket. Africa’s goods trade with the rest of the world shot up from $197 billion in 1995 to $852 billion in 2015.  By KUDZAI GOREMUSANDU This quantum rise reflects an expansion of imports and exports. Africa’s purchase of goods from the rest of the world expanded 4,7 times over that period, while the continent’s total exports quadrupled. Until 2013, the advanced economies were Africa’s main trading partners. In a major change, from 2014, more than half of the continent’s trade with the rest of the world was with emerging and developing economies. This diversification revolution was, however, not matched by changes to the variety of products that Africa sells. Expanding the continent’s export basket to include more processed and manufactured products remains a challenge. Trade with Asia has expanded Africa’s trade geography which has seen a shift from Europe to Asia. With its size and economic development, the European Union remains the biggest single customer for Africa. It accounted for more than 30% of Africa’s global trade in 2015 though this is down from 40% in 2000. In that time, the value of merchandise goods exchanged between Africa and Asia expanded fivefold to reach 25% of Africa’s merchandise trade with the world in 2015. At a country level, China and India were the eighth and ninth largest trading partners for Africa in 2000. In 2015, they were first...

By the first quarter of 2018, Africa will become a continental free-trade hub to enable small- and mediums-scale enterprises (SMEs) export goods duty-free and quota-free across the continent. This was disclosed by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen at the maiden edition of the Ghana SME CEOs summit in Accra on Monday, 20 November 2017, He, therefore, encouraged SMEs to scale up and to take advantage of the African market. Mr Kyerematen further disclosed that under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), SMEs can enjoy exporting some 6,400 products to the US market duty-free. Delivering the key note address, Mr Kyerematen said: “There is an economic partnership agreement, which allows us duty-free and quota-free to the whole of Europe. If SMEs can recalibrate their own production processes to meet the quality standards demanded by the EU market, I can assure you that this is where you can start making progress in terms of scaling up. So, when you want to scale up, you need to be able to sell and that’s where export becomes important. “Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), SMEs can export 6,400 products and over to the United States market duty-free and quota-free and I think that it’s time that our SMEs take this also very serious. “Beyond that, the biggest thing that is going to happen to Africa is the establishment of the continental free-trade area. By the first quarter of 2018, Africa is going to become one continental free-trade area...

It is projected that by 2022, the airspace will be busier with flying mini-robots as the number of commercial drones is expected to go over 620,000 while their commercial market is projected to hit $15 billion globally. While highest usage is in the USA and China, drone technology and application is fast spreading into the rest of the world. In Africa, Rwanda is now sort of a test ground for drones as the continent slowly starts to embrace the use of drones in their airspace. Drones are far more reliable, fast and efficient. Drone use had for a very long time been associated with governments and the military, especially for manning military grounds and spying. In recent years, however, drones have been approved for civilian use. They have since then been developed for more positive and productive ways like aerial photography in film and journalism, shipping and delivery of materials, gathering information in cases of disaster management, geographic mapping in areas with inaccessible terrains, building safety requirements and cargo transport. Drone usage has however had its fair share of criticism from their unregulated usage in many African countries, including Kenya. Privacy concerns are a major concern for many who may think that drones will intrude on their space and privacy. With this in mind, Kenya is yet to fully implement the Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems Regulations 2017, which will allow Kenyans to use drones for filming and photography, sports, as well as other private and commercial activities. Supporting health sector...

The grant was confirmed through a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the African Development Bank East Africa Regional Resource Centre (EARC), and the East African Community (EAC). Initial  Preparation Phase of the East African Community road road project includes; three key multinational road sections between Masaka-Mutukula stretching 89.5 kilometres in Uganda and Mutukula to Kyaka section (30km) as well as Bugene to Kasulo and to Kumunazi, stretching for 133 kilometres. EAC is working towards tarmacking around 900 kilometres of the region’s road network annually in the ongoing robust plans for the upgrading of over 30,000 kilometres of roads in the six member states to bitumen over the next 33 years. That is among the developmental milestones contained in the EAC Vision 2050, which entails improved road networks, cited to be critical for industrialization and the movement of both people and goods. Discovery of oil and gas East Africa and the need to enhance intra-trade has necessitated the need for better roads in the region. African Development Bank(AfDB) has been the main financier in this front. The financier is currently involved in the construction of a major highway from Malindi Kenya to Tanzania. Source: Construction and Civil Engineering