Tanzanian president John Magufuli. PHOTO | AFP  IN SUMMARY That means a country such as Tanzania — which belongs to South African Development Community (SADC) — has to treat EU firms the same way it treats those from its southern Africa neighbours. A cloud of secrecy shrouds proposed free trade pact with Europe even as the region’s presidents gather in Dar es Salaam today to make their final decision. Except for its versions leaked earlier, the details of the final Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) draft that East African negotiators settled for in July has remained a closely guarded secret of a small clique of government officials. Kenya and Rwanda signed the deal in Brussels two weeks ago while Uganda is set to confirm its approval today at the extraordinary summit of East African Community (EAC) heads of state. “The 17th extra-ordinary meeting will be considering the Council of Ministers report on EU-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement,” the EAC secretariat said in a statement. The ministers’ report had recommended collective signing of the EPA to safeguard EU market that accounted for 32 per cent of Kenya’s Sh1.577 trillion exports in 2015 but Tanzania later pulled out of the deal. Today, at the summit chaired by President John Magufuli, President Uhuru Kenyatta will most likely push for Tanzania’s signature after Kenya said its 200 firms and four million jobs are at stake. As the haggling continues, the region’s citizens remain helpless bystanders. A lack of mass participation has relegated public discourse to a...

L-R; Lord Popat, Kouyate, Jassal, and Karera during the panel discussion. (Photos by Timothy Kisambira) MANY A TIME African governments’ representatives and economic experts have convened to deliberate on the continent’s growth potential, intra-Africa trade has been cited as one of the untapped avenues. At the just-concluded The Global African Investment Summit, it was not any different; delegates highlighted the continent’s low capacity to trade with itself as one of the bottlenecks holding it back from competing with other regions. Government officials, business representatives and economic experts insisted that low levels of trade among African countries had seen Africa become less attractive to multinationals and led to slow development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The current levels of trade within the continent have been placed at between 10 and 12 per cent by the various indexes compared to about 40 per cent in North America and around 60 per cent in western Europe. Participants follow proceedings during the meeting in Kigali. All this at a time when Africa has close to 10 trading blocs that have been set up to facilitate trade. Lord Dolar Popat, the UK prime minister’s trade envoy to Rwanda and Uganda, said the greatest hindrances to trade across Africa  was high cost of transport, energy as well as low skills. Lord Popat said beyond the often cited challenges of transport and logistics, most regions across Africa were lacking in terms of the level of skills required  to trade beyond their borders. Another common hindrance observed...

FINANCING entrepreneurial ventures is one of the key issues to feature prominently in the forthcoming maiden East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya. EABC Executive Director Ms Lilian Awinja said one year after the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, they realised the need for a critical follow up on the actual tangible impacts of initiatives like “Trade Africa” or “Power Africa”, that have come along with large funds to promote entrepreneurship. “This is why we will have two sessions on the opportunities and experiences to access those funds and on the requirements for other ways of financing,” she said. Slated for October 10 to 13 in Nairobi, the crucial conference is organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in partnership with the East African Community (EAC) respective national investment agencies. On the session, financial Institutions such Kenya’s KCB Bank will elaborate on the key issues relevant for the financing of entrepreneurial enterprises. EABC chief added: “This is not on big funds and programmes only but also a chance to learn about innovative sources like crowd funding, impact investment and other incubator initiatives”. The conference will also focus on Manufacturing, infrastructure, leather and textiles and energy in parallel sessions, Ms Awinja said. The exhibition expects to pull some 300 participants from the infrastructure-, manufacturingand energy sector, from ICT - and leather and textile industries, as well as from financing institutions. “Important policy makers and top representatives of relevant international organisations have committed themselves to participate,” she said. In...

PRESIDENT John Magufuli is today leading East African Community (EAC) Heads of State at an extraordinary meeting to be held at the State House in Dar es Salaam. The meeting will mainly concentrate on Tanzania’s reluctance in signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Tanzania has exclusively maintained that it will not append its signature on the agreement ‘’until the country’s demands that focus on the best interests of the people are met.’’ Addressing a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, said Tanzania would not sign the EPA agreement until crucial amendments are included in the agreement. Among other issues that are delaying the signing of the agreement, Dr Mahiga said Tanzania wants to ensure that the country is currently focusing on the industrial economy as well as sorting out the effects that the country faces after the exit of Britain from the EU. According to him, the EU was pushing for the EAC member states to sign that agreement that was drafted 14 years ago, whereas Kenya and Rwanda have already sealed their signatures on the Agreement. Uganda has expressed its intention to sign that agreement but it is waiting for today’s deliberations. The agreement was expected to be signed by EAC member states as a block in July, this year, but it was pushed until October 1, after requests from the member countries. However, Dr Mahiga said the signing of EPA...

Negatu speaks during the meeting in Kigali. (T. Kisambira) The number of people involved in informal trade is growing, but most in the region don’t have access to proper transport means. This is one of the challenges highlighted during the last day of The Global African Investment Summit that closed on Tuesday in Kigali. It was noted that only one in four households in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region has access to energy, and the majority of them live in rural areas. Experts said in order to overcome these challenges, the region should put in place creative financing mechanisms to boost infrastructure development. “We have had desire to increase the region’s power pool but the provision of power in COMESA, for instance, is very poor. Only one in four people in the region has access to energy and some of the countries tend to use sources like hydro-power, which makes it complicated especially when it comes to drought seasons. There is no unified grid access and many rural areas simply have no electricity at all,” said Edward George, head research at Ecobank. On the other hand, he said, “when you look at the existing corridors in the region, you can tell that they could unlock the potential in the near future.” “The long corridors like those running down the Nile valley along the East African coast, the Maputo development corridor, the proposed Khartoum-Morocco (corridor) across the Mediterranean sea, all could integrate the region,” he added....

Regional integration is still a highly discussed topic with the Brexit vote still fresh in minds across the globe. Of course, over two months on, conversations have moved beyond shock, joy and dismay. The focus is currently on the potential effects of the decision made by the British people. On surface, it may seem as though African nations will not be directly affected once the British Prime Minister triggers Article 50. While this article will not focus on the potential consequences, it is important to note that there will be both positive and negative aftereffects. There are analysts, economists and policymakers sharing their thoughts as to the impact on Africa as a region and specifically for individual countries. But what the Brexit vote should teach us is that no one can accurately make predictions about such issues. It is within this vein that the question of the East African Community (EAC) comes to the table. Should integration in this region still be a priority? Should the pace of the integration movement be hastened or slowed down? Signs coming out of Arusha suggest that integration for the region is still on course and why shouldn’t it be? The revived Community, which is a few years away from its twenty-first birthday, has moved somewhat slowly and that has worked well so far. There have been criticisms over the years that the process should move faster but to what avail? With a cumulative population of approximately 146 million it makes sense for there to...

Ngwenya addresses the summit yesterday. / Timothy Kisambira. The words ‘Tripartite Free Trade Area’ (TFTA) were among the most commonly used phrases at the Global African Investment Summit, which closed yesterday, at the Kigali Convention Centre. The tripartite region, launched last year in Egypt, aims at economically integrating Africa’s three major regional economic blocs – the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC). The three economic blocs would create the largest trading bloc in Africa, comprising 26 countries, with about 620 million consumers and a combined GDP of almost $1.2 trillion. So far, 17 countries have ratified membership to the region with the remaining nine expected to follow suit. Experts say that realisation of the free trade area hold great potential on Africa’s development as it will promote intra-Africa trade and develop the African market. The TFTA is expected to contribute to Africa’s development, experts citing the opportunity to open up a reliable market that spans across the continent to allow free movement of labour and services. Rather than rely on negotiations with the West, promoters of the free trade area say that countries will be able to reduce the cost of doing business among them. In an interview with The New Times at the sidelines of the summit, Sidiso Ngwenya, the secretary-general of COMESA, said the new bloc will have trade values worth more than $50 billion. This, he said, will be a welcome boost in...

A second hand ban for leather and apparel products in East Africa could come in place, according to The East African Community Secretariat. The East African Community Secretariat is planning to facilitate for the phasing-out of second-hand leather and apparels products, in line with a directive of the last EAC heads of state summit. The 17th Ordinary Summit of the EAC heads of state directed partner states to procure their textile and footwear requirements where quality and supply are competitively available. The view is to phase out importation of used textiles and footwear within three years. As the region seeks to promote industries in the textile and leather sector, it is important to gauge the preparation by the industry to fill the gap left by the ban. The industry may need support measures and incentives to expand investment in order to meet the sudden rise in demand for products. Governments in Africa may need to rethink and re-strategise on a more viable means of promoting the textile industry in the region even as it plans to phase out second-hand clothes. The ban will be unpopular with East Africans as many second hand clothes are costly and poorer quality, and inevitably, the poorest will suffer. The industry also employs thousands, directly and indirectly, so it could plunge many into poverty. Many factors have adversely affected the sector, including liberalisation of the economy in the 1990s. The influx of textiles into the region became a major problem, with the average capacity of utilisation...

Strife torn South Sudan has received membership in the East Africa Community. South Sudan became a new member with full and equal rights, obligations and privileges after depositing the instrument of ratification on the Accession to the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. The ceremony took place on Monday at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko received the document that saw South Sudan join the regional block that consists of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. “I would, therefore, like to seize this opportunity to commend President Salva Kiir, the government and the entire people of the Republic of South Sudan for their tireless efforts and commitment that enabled them to achieve this important milestone," Mfumukeko said. He said the Secretariat will seek guidance from the Council of Ministers on the development of a detailed roadmap to integrate South Sudan into ongoing EAC projects and programmes. “We shall be informing the Leardership in Juba of every step we shall be taking in this regard,” he said. On his part, the Presidential Envoy of of South Sudan, Aggrey Sabuni said membership in EAC for South Sudan will change the nation. “The EAC integration process is important for South Sudan. Currently, the EAC is the most advanced regional bloc on the African Continent,” he said. He noted that South Sudan’s membership in the EAC is likely to provide concrete benefits to the country and the region as a whole. “Deep regional integration programmes that South...

KIGALI, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- African government and business leaders have called for increased private investments in Africa in order to boost economic growth on the continent. They made the call on Monday at the opening of Global African Investment Summit (TGIAS) in Rwanda's capital Kigali. Rwanda hosts the high-level investment forum from Sept. 5 to 6, aimed at delivering international trade and investment to Africa's most dynamic region. "Africa is ripe for investments in several sectors of the economy. There are lots of untapped business prospects for both local and foreign investors. Increased private investments will explore these investment opportunities and help accelerate growth," said Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. He added that Africa has realized the importance of private capital in expanding and growing the mining sector on the continent, given its mineral endowment. "Private investments bring the required capital and essential skills that sustain the growth of economic sectors. Without the mobilization of private capital specifically to fund the mining and infrastructure sectors on the continent, such economic development would not have been possible, at least at the rate at which it occurred," Museveni said. The summit organized by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the government of Rwanda has attracted about 1,000 delegates, including some African heads of state and government, ministers and private sector businesses leaders. The two-day meeting is held under the theme "Transforming African Economies for Global Competitiveness" and will cover sectors including infrastructure, power, agribusiness, fast-moving consumer goods...