By Zephania Ubwani News@tz.nationmedia.com Arusha — Prof Humphrey Moshi of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is one academician who would often argue constructively on a number of topical issues touching the country's economy and beyond with a bit of flexibility. That is why he minced no words when recently reached for comment on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) which Tanzania declined to sign recently in Nairobi during a UN Conference on Development and Trade (Unctad) as had been expected alongside with some member countries of the East African Community (EAC). "This is a very pragmatic decision by government of the United Republic of Tanzania," he told The Citizen saying for a long time he had been advising not only Tanzania but all the EAC partner states not to sign the agreements for a number of reasons. "One; If we want to industrialise, then the agreements contradict our aspirations for that agenda. Two; Opening our economies to products from the European Union (EU) would kill even the small scale productive activities such as animal and chicken husbandry given that local products such as milk and eggs can hardly compete with the imported ones," he said. The economics professor went further by revisiting the colonial and post-colonial trade pattern between Africa and EU, saying it will persist by signing EPA, making Africa - and in this case the EAC - remain a perpetually source of raw materials while Europe will continue to be a source of industrial goods - for...

IN SUMMARY Companies that are export-ready and are motivated and willing to export helps them penetrate markets and make good sales, leading to business growth. However such initiatives have to collaborate with the government agencies responsible for promoting exports as that makes interventions sustainable. Over the past few years, the East African Community has made notable strides towards regional integration. Milestones such as the coming into force of the East African Customs Union, the establishment of the Common Market in 2010 and the implementation of the East African Monetary Union Protocol have all served to facilitate trade among member states. The volume of trade, however, has not grown at the envisioned rate, with some countries still having to play catch-up. Intra-EAC trading fell from $5.8 billion in 2013 to $5.6 billion in 2014. Even with this scenario, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania continued to dominate regional trade as Burundi and Rwanda lagged behind. Overall, the share of intra-EAC trade, the region’s total trade fell to 10.1 per cent from 11.1 per cent in the same period, attesting to the existing imbalance in trade volumes among member states. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that Kenya’s combined exports to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda declined from $69.9 million in January to $1.56 million in February, before rising to $88.8 million in March this year. Another study by Kenya’s Ministry of EAC in 2015 revealed that the Kenya’s exports to the EAC countries declined sharply. It attributed this to stiff competition from cheap...

JUBA (HAN) August 20.2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News. The East African Community Extraordinary Summit scheduled for Dar es Salaam next month will not mediate the South Sudan conflict as the country is yet to attain membership status in the regional body. A spokesperson for Tanzania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mindi Kasiga, told The EastAfricanthat despite signing up to become an EAC member, South Sudan is yet to deposit instruments of ratification with the EAC Secretariat. Ms Kasiga said that the agenda for next month’s EAC Summit which had earlier been scheduled for August, 19, is an evaluation of the status of the ratification of the EAC Treaty by South Sudan. The postponement of the Extraordinary Summit was requested by the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ms Mindi said, without giving the reasons for the request. However, another source said that Tanzania had said it was not ready for the Summit. Tanzania has reiterated its support for mediation effort undertaken by leaders of the  Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), which is pressing the reluctant President Salva Kiir to accept the offer of beefing-up of peacekeeping troops composed of both Igad and UN, to avert a full-scale war in the world’s newest state. The UN agency for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief has warned that the situation in South Sudan could slide into “even worse humanitarian tragedy” if immediate preventive measures are not taken. The extraordinary summit will also deliberate on a report from the EAC’s mediator for the Burundi peace talks, the...

16 Rwandan companies register USD$18M growth in export values after undergoing training programme The programme has been integrated into the Rwandan National Export Strategy TMA invested USD$1.4m in implementing the initiative that trained 16 companies to prepare and implement export plans Kigali, 11 August 2016: A TradeMark Africa (TMA) funded initiative to increase trade flows has boosted Rwanda’s export capacity of select companies in Rwanda. Out of the a target of 16 companies, 13 now export outside Rwanda, thus contributing to increased Rwanda exports to the rest of the EAC. Some of the companies that were able to export out of Rwanda include chalk producer G-Mart and food manufacturer SOSOMA. Rwanda Development Board (RDB) implemented the export development programme through the Irish firm Traidlinks between 2013 to 2015. It was funded by TMA to a tune of US$1.4 million. To ensure sustainability, RDB has integrated the approach into the Rwanda Export Development Strategy as a way of making Rwandan companies export-ready. Six local consultants were engaged to train the 16 companies on how to prepare and implement export plans.  TMA shares its key lessons learned as the fact that skills transfer and mentoring promotes and builds capacity and confidence of exporters, which keeps them sustainable in the export markets. Existence of institutional frameworks and collaboration by the RDB and implementation partners keeps the programme sustainable. The organization further urges Rwanda to develop a competitive private sector with capacity to compete and export value added products to the EAC markets and...

Dr Magufuli, who doubles as the chairman of the regional economic grouping, mentioned some of the most persistent challenges as access to clean and safe water, improving transport infrastructures, strengthening health services and build industries that would lead to increase of employment and revenues. He noted this in a conversation with the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the State House in Dar es Salaam. “It would be more beneficial if you executives of the EAC make big efforts to ensure that member countries focus on addressing problems facing the people,” he said, adding: “if you manage to do this and work on reducing unnecessary expenditure, we will achieve more.” He commended Ambassador Mfumukeko, who took over the position last April, for coming up with good plans and strategies towards implementing the community’s objectives, including reducing expenditures, attract investors and closely supervise projects and programmes under the bloc. Mr Mfumukeko expressed satisfaction on the cooperation he receives from Dr Magufuli as EAC chairman and promised to perform his duties accordingly for the benefit of East Africans. Meanwhile, President Magufuli said goodbye to former Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Dr Natalia Kanem, who has recently been appointed to the post of Deputy Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of the organisation. Dr Magufuli commended Dr Kanem for being appointed to the new position, saying he was optimistic that she is going to be a good ambassador for Tanzania, particularly on influencing the United Nations to help...

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged the European Union (EU) to remove subsidies on agriculture inputs to its member states if the East African Community is to benefit from its market. "Africa will benefit much more if subsidies on agriculture inputs are removed to have a break through on agro-processed products' exports," Museveni said, according to a State House statement issued late on Wednesday. Museveni, who was meeting the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly Dan Kidega, said the East African region should also cut the costs of production in order to regulate prices of products from both areas. He urged the region to focus on products with value addition like textiles, leather, milk, wood, cooking oil products and processed coffee. The EU has an agreement with African countries whereby they can export their products to the EU market tariff and quota free. Some African countries have however argued that the agricultural subsidies EU gives to its member countries render African products non-competitive because of the high costs of production. Source: ShanghaiDaily.com

Presidents of East African Community partner states recently announced they were banning imports of used clothes, locally known as caguwa. They gave sound economic reasons for the ban: promoting the local textile industry and other economic activities linked to it, creating jobs, raising taxes, and so on. There was even an appeal to a sense of pride. Wearing clothes someone else has discarded (in Rwanda that is called gukuburirwa) is not exactly dignified. No one goes around proudly showing off such clothes (ibikuburano). Despite these good reasons, the decision was bound to be contentious. And it was, by East Africans. Importers and wholesalers, big retailers in the towns and smaller ones in the village markets for whom it is good business wouldn’t let go without at least making some noise. Ordinary people also find second-hand clothes very affordable. That was to be expected and is understandable. Which is why East African leaders announced a phase-out period for the ban to be fully implemented. But now stiffer opposition to the ban on used clothes has come from an unlikely quarter – or maybe it is not so unlikely – the United States. Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper reported Wednesday, August 17 that the US Ambassador to Uganda warned the country against implementing the ban. Amb. Deborah Malac is reported to have issued the warning when she made a courtesy call on the Speaker of Uganda’s parliament, Rebecca Kadaga. Don’t be fooled by nice diplomatic words like “courtesy call”. They do not always...

The East African Community has, over the past decade, been undergoing an integration process to open up opportunities for its over 146 million citizens by creating a larger market for business players in the region. The initiative also seeks to reduce the cost of trade and improving intra-regional trade that is still low compared to other trading blocs across the world. These efforts have already started to bear fruit with a recent World Bank report, “Connecting to Compete 2016: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy” showing that the bloc had registered improvement in the movement of goods across borders. The survey ranked trade logistics performance of 160 countries globally. Interestingly, administrative as well as trade and transport reforms in the EAC region have had the greatest impact on logistics compared to infrastructure investments. This has translated into faster transit times and shorter dwell times, according to the report. It indicates that the average dwell time at Mombasa port reduced from 13 days in 2006 to about three days, while the Malaba border crossing point between Kenya and Uganda registered a decrease in border clearance times from 24 hours to six hours. The average time taken to move cargo from Mombasa to Kampala dropped to three days from 18 days, while Mombasa to Kigali now takes about six days compared to 21 days previously. All these developments have helped reduce the cost of doing business by 50 per cent. So, it is crucial that while regional governments promote hard infrastructure development,...

Efforts to advance the East African Community have often veered between halfhearted and impractical. The regional grouping must adapt – via strong yet achievable economic steps – in order to progress. For some, the 1977 dissolution of the East African Community (EAC) finally marked the forlorn end of Africa’s decades-long flirtation with Pan-Africanism. For others, it represented the triumph of sovereignty and nationalism over unrealistic infatuations with asymmetric economic marriages. The last fifteen years of the organization’s newest iteration have fallen somewhere in between the two – with ambitious pronouncements foreshadowing economic and even political integration coexisting withregional rivalries that have threatened to scupper the entire project. However, what is most needed is not wasted political capital nor governments looking inward, but a balanced solution: concrete steps to solidify the existing union and increase free flows of capital and labor, while giving each of the EAC’s member states the ability to craft domestic policies to suit their own domestic environments. How to achieve this? First, focus on improving the EAC’s economic mainstay – the customs union that binds together Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and, very soon, South Sudan. It all starts with the Customs Union Since 2005, EAC member states have been able to trade goods and some services with each other free of tariffs, in most cases. They have also synchronized and often reduced most of their external tariffs, reducing the transaction costs of international trade for foreign exporters and reducing the likelihood of one East African state...

By Anitha Kirezi East African exchanges should fast-track integration initiatives like the capital markets infrastructure (CMI) project, and create a pool of skilled personnel. This is essential to position the regional stock market as a platform of choice for raising long-term funding for governments and business community, Celestin Rwabukumba, the East African Securities Exchange Association (EASEA) chairman, has said. Speaking at the 27th consultative meeting in Dar es Salaam recently, Rwabukumba said the CMI project that is nearing completion presents new possibilities for investors seeking cross-border trade opportunities. With capital markets across the world becoming increasingly automated and integrated, regional stock exchanges require a modern system that meets different market needs. This will also make it possible for EAC capital markets to attract global capital flows and participate in international capital markets. Meanwhile, EASEA has agreed to increase product offerings at each stock market, train market intermediaries, carry out public awareness drives and support integration of market infrastructure as they plan to draft a five-year strategic plan. According to a statement from the EASEA secretariat, these initiatives are aimed at increasing market liquidity and depth. Rwabukumba, who is also the Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) chief executive, has commended the Securities Industry Training Institute - East Africa, noting that the institute will help market players improve skills and technical capacity to meet global standards. "The institute is at the forefront of driving capital market training to meet the growing demand for relevant expertise in the market," he added during the summit...