Kigali — The Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda, Rt. Hon. Anastase Murekezi today officiated the 7th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (EAPCE'15) taking place 4 to 6 March 2015 at Serena Kigali Hotel in Rwanda. Addressing the over 500 delegates attending the Conference, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister said the Community was committed to the provision of sufficient, reliable and affordable electricity to the citizenry and that the Partner States were in the process of linking each other with high voltage transmission lines and developing the necessary framework for power exchange and trade amongst themselves. The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister disclosed that last year alone, the region commissioned over five hundred megawatts of new generation capacity and noted that by 2018, the EAC is projected to have installed capacity growth from the current 4,000 megawatts to more than 12,000 megawatts. "I therefore invite the Private Sector, Development Partners and all stakeholders in the energy and gas sectors to partner with EAC Governments in these efforts" affirmed the Rwandan official and assured the international oil companies and related service companies attending the Conference of the region's commitment to support the oil and gas exploration, development, as well as production. Speaking on behalf of the Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe, the Deputy Minister of East African Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Dr. Abdullah Saadalla noted that the confirmation of commercial petroleum reserves of approximately 6.5 billion barrels in Uganda, an estimated over...

Kenya, Zambia, Uganda and Rwanda ministries are set to address power sector and shape regional infrastructure planning at the summit in Nairobi. Ministers and senior representatives from the four East African countries have recently pledged their support in solving the region’s crippling power deficit. Key speakers from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), IFC, Barclays, Symbion Power, KenGen, KPLC, UMEME and EEP will address game-changing actions for the power sector. Some of the topics set to be addressed include the critical role transmission must play in East Africa’s industrialisation, the role of power utilities, how best to overcome financing obstacles and how the cost of regional borrowing can be lessened by unlocking the transmission deadlock. EnergyNet’s Ppogramme manager Veronica Bolton-Smith said, "When one considers that Powering East Africa is a targeted meeting for a small number of participants, the presence of four of the most powerful people in the region’s energy sector highlights the need for such focused talks." The private power sector decision makers are also expected to participate at the Powering East Africa meeting that is meant to highlight the urgency of the region’s transmission crisis. Source: CNBC Africa

In order for Africa to compete in a developing global bio-economy, the continent must embrace agricultural innovations. This was highlighted during a two-day forum recently held in Nairobi organised by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the German government. “One of the key ingredients to growth in the agriculture sector is attributable to development of technology that fails to be aligned to the needs of the client and effectively fails to compliment national and institutional goals aspirations,” Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Felix Koskei said. “In particular innovations should be self-perpetuated or be taken up by commercial entities and business the innovations are expected to yield immense socioeconomic benefits and impact productivity income and sustainability of the environment for the small holders.” During the forum, attended by key dignitaries and agricultural policy makers it was also established that Africa needs to not only improve food security but also ensure sustainable value chain development. Rhoda Tumusiime, Commissioner for Agriculture at the Africa Union said, “Africa must feed itself and in fact this initiative of scaling up innovation is very critical. One world no hunger Africa should have no hunger because we have the capability, the land the people but as you have also heard only 50 per cent of agriculture productivity is contributed to by innovation.” With 60 per cent of uncultivated arable land untapped in Africa, agriculture is earmarked as an economic engine for the continent. However, several hurdles are still hindering the continent from achieving its...

NAIROBI: East African Community ( EAC) countries have been asked to co-operate in the development of the region's nascent oil and gas sector. Rwandan Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi said co-operation between the Partner States was the surest way to develop the region's enormous energy and natural resources. He said collaboration should focus on petroleum exploration, production, refining, storage and pipeline development for product transportation. "It is only through taking up a bold regional approach that EAC can develop the infrastructure that a single country cannot afford as they require lots of money," said Murekezi. "Our dream is seeing in East Africa, a vibrant economy that will eventually be exporting refined petroleum products to the world market, not just raw crude, and we must be motivated to achieve this," he added. Murekezi was speaking at the Seventh East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda. The three-day conference is held biennially. The premier said the EAC's dream of developing the oil and gas sector can be efficiently realised if partner states adopt new technologies that will produce energy in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. Murekezi singled out the enabling environment for business and investment that EAC has set up as one of the tools that would facilitate the growth of the oil and gas business in the region. He said EAC has established a Customs Union and Common Market to facilitate free movement of goods among the Partner States. Rationalisation and technological improvements in cargo weigh bridges, reduction...

NAIROBI: Local sugar millers will continue enjoying protection against competition from other producers in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( Comesa) for the next one year. This follows a decision by the Comesa Trade and Customs Committee to grant Kenya another 12-month extension as it seeks to privatise State-owned sugar factories. This is the fourth time Kenya has been granted an extension from the regional bloc since it was granted the protection window in 2004. Now it has up to February 28, 2017 to institute the necessary changes with a view to making it strong enough to compete with sugar from other Comesa members. Factories earmarked for privatisation include Nzoia, Sony, Chemelil, Muhoroni and Miwani Sugar Companies. A statement from the Comesa Communication department says the Trade and Customs Committee, which is composed of representatives from member States, met last month and came up with what was considered “a win-win approach”. “This Committee was mandated to process safeguards by the Council of Ministers. During its meeting, the committee considered the request from the Government of Kenya and made several recommendations,” the statement says. AGREED SYSTEM The committee agreed the Kenyan sugar sector should be given a one-year extension of their existing safeguards, subject to review and renewal for another one year. Further, the committee agreed a system allocating specific quotas to each member State should be put in place taking into account the agricultural calendar of the member states, in consultation with the member states and be...

Kenyan manufacturers are losing the East African market to Chinese and Indian firms, the World Bank said on Thursday. he bank said the share of manufactured goods imported by East African Community (EAC) countries from Kenya declined to seven per cent in 2013 from nine per cent four years earlier. Data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that exports to Uganda and Tanzania dipped last year by 6.5 per cent underlining the growing trend. “These changes are significant because almost 40 per cent of Kenya’s manufacturing exports go to the EAC,” the bank says in a new report focusing on manufacturing. Some of the Kenyan products which have lost the export market include plastics, chemicals and paper. Companies have attributed the drop in exports to setting up of subsidiaries by manufacturers in the region to make what was previously exported from Kenya. However, the World Bank has pointed to cheaper products from India and China as a source of the shift. The competitiveness of Kenyan exports is said to be slowly declining. In 2013 the country’s exports represented 0.02 per cent of global manufacturing exports down from 0.06 per cent in 1994 and 0.18 per cent in the 1980s. Source: Business Daily

Lack of competition in Kenya has seen inefficient large manufacturers remain in the market leading to high cost of goods and slow growth of the sector, said World Bank. World Bank data shows that the gap in labour productivity between an employee in the most efficient company and the least efficient within the same sector was as wide as Sh22,000 annually. Annual labour productivity is calculated as the value of goods produced by labour within a year. “Surprisingly those less productive are staying in the market,” said Maria Paulina, an analyst at World Bank. The bank noted Kenyan companies participating in the international market through exports had a higher mortality rate due to their uncompetitiveness attributable to inefficiencies. Kenya firms were found to have the second-lowest survival rate of exporters among a group of countries that included those of East African Community, South Africa and Nicaragua. Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) said it was aware of the distorted competition in the market, which helped the inefficient companies to exist. “We are aware they exist and persist because people can get away with it. This market rewards low productivity firms,” said Betty Maina, the chief executive of KAM. She noted attempts to entrench efficiency in energy use by manufacturers had received low participation despite most producers citing electricity as a major cost. 280,000 workers KAM also noted the winning of State contracts was also likely to keep inefficient firms afloat especially when the tendering process was not transparent. Manufacturing sector growth...

The delay to appoint a minister for East African Community affairs has rubbed MPs the wrong way. The chairperson of the committee on EAC, Tonny Ayoo said Tuesday that absence of a substantive minister for EAC was bogging down their work. The position has been vacant since the death of Eriya Kategaya early 2013. Kategaya also served as the First Deputy Prime Minister. On Sunday President Yoweri Museveni made a cabinet reshuffle, but no one was named minister EAC. Currently, there is only a minister of state. Ayoo said that the only minister there is, is overstretched. “Sometimes we want him for business here, he is not there. So many things have not been handled,” he said, adding that one minister is supposed to be resident in Arusha to coordinate the operations of the Community. “The President should rethink his position so that one person from among the over 30 million Ugandans is got and appointed minister for EAC,” he said. He recalled that last time they held discussion on the budget of the Ministry without the minister. He observed that there are ministries having four ministers and yet the Ministry of EAC is equally important. Pending issues he cited include harmonization of laws, putting in place an EAC policy and ensuring that ministries mainstream eac issues. Ayoo said the presence of the minister is of paramount importance when the committee goes out to sensitise people on issues of integration Source: New Vision

Rwanda is, starting today, hosting the 7th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2015 this week. The summit, the first of its kind to be held in Rwanda, will feature a number of discussions which will be centered on how the region can fast track inclusive development that engages all key stakeholders in the oil and petroleum gas industry. The conference will be held under the theme: ‘East Africa Region - Proven Destination for Investment in Petroleum Resources for Regional Energy Efficiency and Lasting Socio-Economic Development.’ It will explore critical topics on emerging trends; provide awareness of the potential for petroleum development in the region and other important developments in the sector including technological advancements in exploration, development and production of the region’s petroleum resources in accordance with international best practices. This Summit comes at an exciting time for the industry, a time when the crude oil prices are falling and will provide international and national companies with an overview of the fiscal policies relating to exploration and production that are affected by the low prices, along with updates on current or future energy prospects in the world. It will foster furtherance to previous deliberations of EAC oil summit that was held last year in Arusha nearly on the same month. The envisaged growth in the sector was projected to come from improved operations, technologies, reservoir management, advancement in geology and geophysics, deep investments, risk control and new discoveries in the region. East Africa is currently one of the most...

Aviation experts from the Northern Corridor countries have converged in Kigali to discuss a concrete legal framework as the region prepares to fully liberalise the airspace among partner states. The two-day meeting has attracted civil aviation experts from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan to prepare a workplan and budget for the implementation and management of the Northern Corridor airspace, accordning to Tony Barigye, the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA) communication manager. “They are also expected to prepare a memorandum of understanding on search and rescue, as well as aircraft accident investigation,” Barigye told Business Times in a telephone interview yesterday. “This meeting is yet another step to the liberalisation of the airspace among the Northern Corridor states. It will also help deepen the EAC integration process.” It comes on the backdrop of agreements that have been signed between states to relinquish ‘Fifth freedom rights’ as one of the ways of liberalising the regional airspace,” he added. Last year, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan signed an agreement establishing a legal framework paving way for negotiations that will see local airlines attain ‘Fifth freedom rights” on the Juba-Nairobi, Nairobi-Juba routes. Under the agreement, local airlines, including RwandAir, have the right to carry passengers from one country to another and from that country to a third country. Monique Mukaruliza, Rwanda’s co-ordinator for the Northern Corridor integration projects, said the initiatives will enhance competition in the aviation industry and, ultimately, make air transport in the region affordable. Alex Buterere, the RwandAir senior manager...