Kenya may pay between five and 22 per cent taxes on its exports to Europe after Tanzania failed to show up yesterday for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. This is the second time Tanzania has jeopardised the deal, after 2014, which would give the East African Community duty free and quota-free market access to the EU. Kenya,Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda turned up yesterday and had hoped Tanzania would too. In 2014, Kenya was placed under the General System Preference trade regime for three months – the private sector made Sh600 million per month – before successfully lobbying to be reinstated to duty free status. About 87 per cent of Kenya’s exports – in agriculture and manufacturing industries – to the EU valued at Sh98 billion were affected, according to the Foreign Affairs ministry. Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed said Kenya will continue to engage other EAC member states to find a solution on the deal. “It can’t be signed now because we have not all agreed, but we are hoping that we can do it in the near future. We have two more weeks until August 4. We are engaging with everyone to make sure that all of us agree at the same time,” she said. The ratification deadline by the European Commission is October 1. REGIONAL INTEGRATION Tanzania Foreign Affairs PS Aziz Mlima two weeks ago said his government will not sign the deal as it needs to monitor the British exit from the...

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Aziz Mlima said his country would not sign the EAC-EU EPA citing ‘turmoil’ in the EU occasioned by the impending exit of the United Kingdom. “Our experts have analysed the pact and established that it will not be to our local industry’s benefit. Signing this pact at the moment would expose young EAC countries to harsh economic conditions in post-Brexit Europe,” Dr Mlima said. The decision to snub signing of the trade deal as expected was not interpreted well by some member states with unnamed Kenyan government official quoted by Standard Digital saying Tanzania has been proving difficult and slow in firming up the new deal. The reaction by the Kenyan official may be understood as the decision by Dar to opt out of EPA deal signing between East African Community (EAC) and the EU leaves Kenya’s exports exposed to heavy taxes. Kenya exports tea, coffee and flowers to the 28-member market it is feared that Tanzania’s position may wreck the whole deal which may also spell doom to more than 600,000 workers mainly in the flower farms and fresh foods producers in Kenya. However, it is important also to put the EPA deal and the Tanzania’s situation into proper perspective. The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are intended to enhance regional integration and economic development in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. They are based on the principle of asymmetrical market opening, meaning that they provide a better access...

African leaders have adopted plans to trial a new passport that is expected to ease trade and movement of people across the continent. This follows the launch of an African Union passport by the African Union (AU) that is set to replace the need for Africans to acquire visas to travel within the continent. According to Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amb Amina, business leaders have found it cumbersome to promote intra African trade due to the numerous barriers that limit cordial engagement. “The people who really need it are the business people so that they are able to move around the continent without that visa requirement so that they can invest,” Amb. Amina said. Intra-African trade stands at a paltry 12 percent, with African nations choosing instead to business with Europe, Asia or the Americas. Less than 15 countries also have reciprocal visa regulations that don’t require citizens to acquire visas when travelling. The AU expects to eliminate the need for African citizens to have visas to travel by 2018. Amb Amina said during the trial period, the African passport will only be available to presidents and senior government officials over a two year period. “We want to experiment with it ourselves so that any challenges are addressed before we roll it out to the rest of the population of the continent,” she said. The African Union passport is in line with plans by the AU to create a continental free trade area to promote intra-African trade. Regional trade has...

Tanzania has brushed off calls to scrap Value Added Tax (VAT) on transit goods, saying its port service charges still rank lower than what traders face in Kenya. Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) says charges at the Port of Dar es Salaam still fall below what its rival, Mombasa Port, charges on transit goods even after the taxes are absorbed by traders. The agency attracted protest from traders when it imposed an 18 per cent tax on key services, which were previously zero-rated at Dar port. The affected services include loading and unloading of a ship (stevedoring), securing cargo, inspection, preparation of customs documentation, container handling and storage of goods. “TRA therefore confirms that VAT on ancillary services as defined by the law is not a factor that renders Dar es Salaam port non-competitive,” TRA Commissioner General Alfayo Kidata said in a statement circulated yesterday. “The Act charges VAT at the rate of zero, supply of services involving international transport of goods.., this does not apply to ancillary services rendered on transit goods.” The TRA says individuals subcontracted to offer transport services remain exempted from paying the VAT as long as there is proof of payment by the original consignee. That means a transporter on transit must provide documents that include road consignment note of the respective goods, copies of customs documents, truck movement sheet, exit note from country of destination and a copy of invoice to TRA. Tanzania Truck Owners Association, Tanzania Association of Freight Forwarders and Tanzania Shipping Agents...

Brussels (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that a massive EU-US trade deal could soften any damage caused by Britain's exit from the European Union following last month's referendum. The treaty, bogged down in negotiations, has "a very significant ability to act as a counter" to the negative effects of Britain's eventual divorce from the EU, Kerry told a press conference in Brussels. "It’s our job to make sure that we adequately inform people about the facts of how TTIP will actually work for the people of Europe," Kerry said. "It will protect jobs, it will protect their regulatory rights, protect their abilities with respect to labour and the environment," he said. Negotiators from the US and the EU are currently in trade talks to finalise the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that would create the world's largest free trade area. But the shock setback of Brexit and rising opposition to the deal in France and Germany have raised serious doubts that it will be achieved by the end of the year as hoped. Kerry said that he would embark on a European tour in "the coming month ... to lay out the facts for people to understand exactly the positive side" of a potential deal. Kerry's comments came just days after the top US trade official said that Britain's vote to break with the EU opens new questions over the deal. Britain "is a very significant part of what makes TTIP attractive," said...

In the days after Brexit, markets plunged, the Pound went into free fall, a Prime Minister resigned and the future not only of the UK, but also the European Union seemed uncertain. Beyond the reasons that divided people over this vote and its economic and political ramifications; is a growing frustration with inter-governmental integration models. Why then - with the woes of the European Union so visible - is Africa forging ahead with an ambitious plan to accelerate the free movement of Africans and integrate national economies beyond border communities and physical proximity? There are three reasons for these interesting points of divergence. The first is that the contexts between Europe and Africa are dramatically different. The European Union (EU) is the most integrated region globally. For at least 50 years, Europeans have enjoyed the benefits of integration. A large population of the EU has never known what it is to demand for visas while traveling in the region, or seek work permits to work elsewhere in Europe than their home-countries. On the contrary, Africans have a completely parallel experience to this. Africa is the most fragmented continent worldwide, and its people suffer the cost of non-integration on a daily basis. This fragmentation was imposed on Africa, and what is happening now is that we are working to reverse this process, without violating the principle of sovereignty. The second reason is the different centralised and decentralised models of governance between the European Union and African Union. The European Commission has...

Arusha — Industrial investors and other producers operating in Mauritius intend to penetrate the East African market and they plan to start off this initiative by staging a special manufacturer exhibition in Arusha next October. That apparently has resulted from the working visit to the Indian Ocean Commission in Mauritius, by the Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, who has just concluded the trip there following an invitation by the Secretary General of the IOC, Mr Jean Claude de l'Estrac. The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) is a regional integration organization that has memberships of Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles, Madagascar and France. The IOC now wants to work closely with the East African Community, according to an official statement from the EAC Headquarters in Arusha. Apart from visiting IOC, Amb Mfumukeko also seized the opportunity to market EAC to the Mauritius Private Sector stakeholders, including meeting with the Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture; Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Enterprise Mauritius; Mauritius Investment Authority; Business Mauritius; and Mauritius Export Association.  As it happens, almost all the stakeholders met expressed the need to explore investment and business opportunities between Mauritius and the EAC Partner States. Mauritius exports 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually. The Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture and several other private sector players expressed their readiness to penetrate the EAC market and urged the Secretary General to link them with the East African Business Council (EABC), the private arm of the East African Community, in order to strengthen collaboration in...

Africa’s ‘skills of the future’ requires firm partnerships between NPOs, private and public sectors There’s an ongoing discussion about development in East Africa and a new narrative have emerged in recent years that it is a lot more exciting. It is a story of resilience, self-reliance and a passion for growth facilitated largely by technology. It is therefore encouraging to see trade investments being committed by South Korea and its East African counterparts, as it will allow more people to access technology and address the issues of skills and employment. Case in point is the signing of a bilateral deal to set up a key science and technology institute in Kenya for a tune of 10 billion Kenyan Shillings which could prove to be an important accelarator of growth. But the issue of education, skills and employment are not for the public sector alone. It is against this backdrop that Samsung Electronics Africa have adopted an attitude of innovation; introducing world-class technology where it previously hasn’t existed. Our aim is to make sure that every African child have access to education no matter where they are – be it in a rural area lacking infrastructure or perhaps in an existing infrastrastructure but lacks educational resources – by providing access to technology. Samsung sees education as the seed of innovation and we believe digital technology can completely transform the learning process, as well as the nature of teaching and learning, to create inclusive environments for everyone. Our Solar Powered Internet Schools,...

NAIROBI — Kenya may abandon 10 years of negotiating a trade deal with the European Union (EU) as part of the regional East African Community bloc and go it alone, to avoid having duties of as much as 30% slapped on its exports from October. A so-called Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and the EU is on hold after Tanzania’s government said two weeks ago it was reluctant to sign any deal because of "recent developments affecting the bloc’s union". The UK voted in a referendum on June 23 to withdraw from the EU, ending a 40-year partnership. Uganda said last week it also wants to delay signing the deal. "We would like to sign it together; the desire is that we sign it together," KenyanForeign Minister Amina Mohammed said in the capital, Nairobi, last week. "If we get to a stage where we can’t do that then we also have the right to make our own sovereign decisions." The negotiated EPA would give members of the EAC immediate duty-free, quota-free access to the EU for all exports. The Brexit decision is complicating trade negotiations as ministers from around the world gather this week for the14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Nairobi, where the EPA accord has been scheduled to be signed. The EU imported goods worth €2.6bn from theEAC last year, data from the European Commission shows. Kenya exported 126-billion shillings ($1.2bn) worth of goods to the EU in 2015,...

Arusha — East African Community (EAC) is exploring investment and business opportunities with Mauritius, an Indian Ocean state that is famous for sugar exports and lately development in technological innovations. In order to initiate the collaboration, Enterprise Mauritius is set to organize a visit and an exhibition to the EAC in October this year in which over 15 key manufacturers from the archipelago will participate. This was revealed here after last week's visit to Mauritius by EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko during which he seized the opportunity to market the bloc to the Mauritius private sector stakeholders, including the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry and another one responsible for agriculture. He also conferred with senior officials of Enterprise Mauritius, Mauritius Investment Authority, Business Mauritius and Mauritius Export Association. Mauritius exports 400,000 tonnes of sugar annually. "All stakeholders met expressed the need to explore investment and business opportunities between Mauritius and the EAC partner states," said Mr Owora Richard-Othieno, the spokesperson of the community and head of the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department. He said the Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture and several other private sector players expressed their readiness to penetrate the EAC market and urged Mr Mfumukeko to link them with the East African Business Council (EABC), the private arm of EAC, "in order to strengthen collaboration in trade, investment and mutual cooperation". It emerged during the visit that the Mauritius Board of Investment has also invited the Investment Promotion Authorities/Agencies in the EAC member countries for a...