As the wheels of Brexit begin slowly to churn into motion, a clearer image is starting to emerge as to what it means for the UK’s trade relations with the rest of the world. While much has been made of Britain’s need to strike deals with major emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil, the appointment of Priti Patel as International Development Secretary – a vocal critic of the department’s focus on aid in the past – signals a shift in emphasis towards a pro-development trade policy for Africa. If handled intelligently this could present a significant opportunity for Britain to hitch its chariot to a region which is set to be the world’s fastest growing over the next century. The secretary is already keeping to her word. On a recent visit to several African countries, Ms. Patel unveiled a series of ambitious projects that go beyond the traditional British tradition of spending billions in aid every year through international organizations and individual commitments. Kenya will receive £95 million over four years for new infrastructure projects while a separate £30 million “Invest Africa” programme will seek to create 90,000 jobs across the region in sectors that would attract British investors. Whilst vowing to maintain the UK’s commitment to ring-fencing 0.7% of its budget for international aid, Ms. Patel has also promised to stop development money from being “stolen” and “wasted on inappropriate projects”. If she gets her way, more money will be allocated for projects that drive investment and foster...

Bilateral agreement between Kenya and Uganda on a seamless Standard Gauge Railway system signed Wednesday in the capital Nairobi. Hon Minister of Works, Eng Monica Azuba Ntege signed on behalf of Government of Uganda while her counterpart, Cabinet secretary James Macharia signed on behalf of Kenya. In June 2013, the first infrastructure Summit of the Presidents of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda  held in Uganda put in place mechanisms for fast tracking the development of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) system linking Rwanda and Uganda to the port of Mombasa to enable faster socio-economic transformation of the East and Central Africa Economies. These led to the signing of the Tripartite Agreement for the development and operation of a Standard Gauge Railway between Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali with a branch lines to Kisumu (Kenya) and Pakwach/Gul-Nimule (Uganda) between the Republics of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda in August 2013. The Republic of South Sudan acceded to the agreement in May 2014 extending the line to Juba. To enable development and operationalisation of a Seamless Railway network from Mombasa to Kigali and Juba, the  Summit of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects vide the 3rd Joint Communiqué directed the Partner States to develop a Standard Gauge Railway Protocol for the development and operations of the Standard Gauge Railways. The Protocol was signed by Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda in May 2014. The overall objective is to jointly develop and operate a modern, fast, reliable, efficient and high capacity railway transport system as a seamless single railway operation...

By Dorothy Nakaweesi Kampala — East African Community partner states have been challenged to benchmark themselves with the world's most advanced economies if they are to grow. This was said by former EAC Secretary General, Mr Amanya Mushega, who said EAC needs to revisit and do away with the standard way of judging itself by sub-Saharan African standards. "India, Singapore and South Africa refused to treat themselves that way. They aimed high, looked at the way the USA, Japan, Germany, UK and the USSR developed their human resources, copied them with the view to competing with them," Mr Mushega said. Mr Mushega was giving a keynote address during the opening of the two-day EAC-EU-IMF conference on regional integration on Monday in Arusha, Tanzania. The theme of the conference was 'Regional Integration in the EAC: Making the most of the Common Market on the Road to a Monetary Union.' Mr Mushega called for heavy investment in human resource development, and urged the Community to compare the number and quality of local skills with advanced economies. "For EAC to develop, exploit its resources, build industries, not cutting and wrapping imported products for it to build and maintain roads, railways, airports and dams, compete in local and world markets, it must put maximum efforts on the quality of education and skills of its population," he said. Speaking at the forum, the director of the IMF's African Department Mr Abebe Aemro Selassie, said the challenge for the EAC, as for other fast growing countries...

Uganda is to host the 17th edition of the East African Community Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibition that will take place from December 5 to 11, 2016 in Kampala. The exhibition will held under the theme, "Buy East African MSE Products to build East Africa" According to the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, the Jua Kali /Nguvu Kazi Expo is an annual regional exhibition within the East African Community (EAC) with an objective of bringing together the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) artisans and innovators from the East African Region The purpose is opening up new market frontiers for their products as well as bridging up the technological gaps between them. The hosting of the expo among the EAC Partner States is rotational. It was held in Dar es Salaam last year and in Kigali in 2014. The exhibition, the ministry said, provides a forum for artisans to demonstrate their innovations to an East African region that is focused on attaining a fully-fledged Common Market complete with free movement of goods, services, labour, people, capital and the right of establishing business and residence. The EAC Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibition is as old as the EAC itself, having been held every year since 1999 through collaboration between the EAC Secretariat, the Partner States and Confederation of Informal Sector Organizations East Africa (CISO-EA). At the exhibition, experts give the exhibitors professional advice on the key topics such as: opportunities offered by the East African Common Market Protocol; how to invest in...

The United Nations Conference on trade and development held in Kenya has agreed that historical tariff barriers must be lifted In talks which took place at the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and development, held in Kenya, between African ministers, there was agreement that present and existing domestic regulations, particularly in the form of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), remain a barrier to free trade across Africa. Opening the conference UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Regulatory frameworks governing trade, investment in and technology play a critical role, and rather than working to change the economic model for the better, many actual and would-be leaders are instead embracing protectionism and even xenophobia,” he said. Speaking as one of the panellists considering the question of lowering the hurdles for trade costs, regulatory convergence and regional integration,Eddy Njoroge, writing in Standard Digital, said that trade barriers had to come down, particularly for the telecoms industry which contributes some $300 billion to Africa’s GDP:  “While we strive to position our regional telecommunications industry as the continent’s most competitive space that foreign investors can take note of, we need to clean our Augean stable – we have placed upon ourselves debilitating trade barriers right at home.” The ministers present were aware of the glaring contradictions in the present regulatory environment. The example was used in the discussion that while Tanzania’s converged licencing model supports the so-called tripleplay telecoms; IT and broadcasting model, Uganda’s model is on emphasising infrastructure licencing and Kenya’s unified licencing framework concentrates on the service level. Rwanda, the...

East African Community (EAC) has made considerable progress on payment systems and financial markets integration. However, participants on the high level conference concluded in Arusha on Tuesday acknowledged that fiscal deficits need to be brought down to meet the convergence criterion and to ensure the stability of the future monetary union. Convergence goes beyond headline fiscal deficits and public debt, and fiscal risks need to be monitored closely. The conference was jointly organised by the EAC Secretariat, the European Union (EU), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entitled 'Regional Integration in the EAC: Making the Most of the Common Market on the Road to a 'Monetary Union' in Arusha. In this regard, participants noted still high compliance cost in light of different regulations in member countries. On the Fintech front, however, the EAC region is ahead of many other countries in the world. The importance of proper sequencing and pace of financial integration was stressed in light of risks involved. Moreover, further progress is needed in data harmonisation and monetary policy frameworks and operations, and there is a need to establish the new institutions that will play a key role for the implementation and resilience of the union. EAC region policymakers reaffirmed their commitment to build a strong economic and monetary union. Participants assessed the current state and pace of economic integration and noted considerable progress towards a single entry visa, processing times at ports, and removal of internal tariffs. As indicated in the second EAC Common Market Scorecard 2016...

03 November 2016 | Bill Boyle The United Nations Conference on trade and development held in Kenya has made a call for tariff barriers and other restrictive measures to be dramatically eased. In talks which took place at the recent United Nations Conference on Trade and development, held in Kenya, between African ministers, there was agreement that present and existing domestic regulations, particularly in the form of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), remain a barrier to free trade across Africa. Opening the conference UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Regulatory frameworks governing trade, investment in and technology play a critical role, and rather than working to change the economic model for the better, many actual and would-be leaders are instead embracing protectionism and even xenophobia,” he said. Speaking as one of the panellists considering the question of lowering the hurdles for trade costs, regulatory convergence and regional integration,Eddy Njoroge, writing in Standard Digital, said that trade barriers had to come down, particularly for the telecoms industry which contributes some $300 billion to Africa’s GDP:  “While we strive to position our regional telecommunications industry as the continent’s most competitive space that foreign investors can take note of, we need to clean our Augean stable – we have placed upon ourselves debilitating trade barriers right at home.” The ministers present were aware of the glaring contradictions in the present regulatory environment. The example was used in the discussion that while Tanzania’s converged licencing model supports the so-called tripleplay telecoms; IT and broadcasting model, Uganda’s model is...

By Anne Robi East African Business Council has called on Tanzania and other EAC countries to focus on cross border investments for better and quick businesses development and promotion of integration. The Chairman the Council, Mr Felix Mosha, made the call yesterday in Dar es Salaam when opening a tentative programme for Public Private Dialogue on the Tanzania Private Sector involvement and contribution to the implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol (CMP). Mr Mosha said that focusing on cross borders investments was vital in the EAC common market development as it would help gather sources familiar to the EAC economic. "Tanzania and East Africa should collectively direct their focus towards cross border investments, which have so far made Kenya the third or fourth largest FDI investor in Tanzania," he said. Mr Mosha called on TPSF to ensure SMEs are fully informed about conditions for their effective trading opportunities within EAC. Mr Mosha said SMEs are not sufficiently informed about EAC Common market which denies opportunities in EAC. "Trade expansion in the East African integration should not be left to depend on large corporations. From the experience of EABC, SMEs are not sufficiently informed about conditions for their effective trading opportunities within the EAC," he said stressing the need for TPSF to put more efforts and ensure SMEs are fully involved. Meanwhile, TPSF commended the government's effort in the elimination of non-tariff barriers in the EAC market. TPSF Consultant Mr Salum Awadhi said a research carried out indicate that the...

A model Bill to guide East Africa member states in streamlining freight forwarding industry has been drafted. A key proposal in the model Bill financed by Japan International Co-operation Agency is creation of competent national authorities in each member State to license customs agents and freight forwarding practitioners. The proposed law intends to create a competent authority that will regulate the sector and ensure professionalism in member States. FACE CHALLENGES The industry has been facing challenges related to service delivery, professionalism and self-regulation compounded by the implementation of the Single Customs Territory that expanded the scope of operations for customs, clearing and freight forwarding agents in the East African region. "Several meetings recommended self-regulation and accreditation of the industry as the most suitable option. Development of the model Bill was considered important in order to guarantee uniformity and harmony of the resultant national laws given that clearing agents and freight forwarders operate across borders," said John Mathenge, the executive director of the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations. Mr Mathenge was speaking in Mombasa during a workshop for East African stakeholders to validate the model Bill. Currently, competent authorities in East African Community that license customs agents and freight forwarding practitioners are customs departments of the revenue authorities in the region. Although this role is provided for in the East Africa Community Customs Management Act, the role of the freight forwarders and custom agents have not been properly provided for. "There are provisions for licensing but none on professional...

  ERIE, Pa. - Logistics Plus Inc., a leading worldwide provider of transportation, logistics and supply chain solutions, is proud to announce it has an expanded presence in East Africa with four new locations in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya; Kampala, Uganda; and Juba, South Sudan. The expansion will allow the Company to provide additional logistics and warehousing solutions in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and throughout the entire East Africa corridor, including Burundi, Tanzania, Somalia, and eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). Highlighted capabilities include: Largest fleet of 1,300 trucks in East Africa, all fitted with tracking devices for real-time positioning. Customs Clearance licenses in all countries. 90,000 square feet of warehousing space in Nairobi. 79-acre Inland Container Depot (ICD) adjacent to the Mombasa port - the only ICD with direct road and gate access to the port. 70,000 cubic meters (2.4 million cubic feet) of bonded and general warehousing space in Mombasa. 8,000 twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs) of storage area at the Mombasa port at any point in time. Licenses to operate its own airplanes. 15-acres of bonded and general warehousing space in Kampala. ICD at Kampala can accommodate 4,000 TEUs at any point in time. 300-acre facility in Special Economic Zone in Juba with its own transportation yard and Container Freight Station (CFS). “These expanded capabilities in East Africa provide a nice complement to our already extensive presence in northern Africa and the Middle East,” said Jim Berlin, founder and CEO of Logistics Plus. “The East Africa Community is an...