East African Community (EAC) partner states made significant progress in furthering regional integration during 2014. The EAC Secretary General, Dr. Richard Sezibera said, the EAC made rapid strides by ratifying and implementing several protocols and agreements. “The Single Customs Protocol has been properly implemented in the northern and southern corridors,” he told a news conference at the EAC’s Arusha headquarters last week. The northern corridor runs from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to Ugandan capital Kampala, before continuing on to Rwandan capital Kigali. The southern corridor runs from the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam to Burundian capital Bujumbura and Kigali. Briefing the media on the EAC’s achievements in 2014 and the way forward, Dr. Dr.Sezibera said the partner states had introduced a ‘single window’ at the two ports, which are the two main entry and exit points to the region. He said member states had also introduced an electronic cargo tracking system. “All documentation and transactions regarding the movement of goods are done at one point in order to reduce business costs and time spent,” he said. “By implementing the Single Customs Protocol, roadblocks and other non-tariff barriers have been reduced significantly within the entire EAC region,” he said. The Secretary General said during the 2014/15 financial year, member states have invested in major road and rail projects. Dr. Sezibera said, “While Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are investing in central railway corridor projects, which will also connect the region to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya...

A long-running feud between Ugandan traders and Kenyan authorities over the auction of uncollected cargo at the port of Mombasa has been escalated to the East African Community leadership amid claims of unfairness. Uganda has accused Kenya of imposing a new non-tariff barrier by “selectively auctioning Ugandan goods held at the port of Mombasa”. In the latest status update to the EAC on trade with Kenya, Uganda has also raised concern over increased impounding of suspected counterfeit goods meant for its market at the port of Mombasa. “Lengthy, restrictive and unclear administrative procedures of licensing Uganda-owned container freight stations and warehouses in Kenya are non-tariff barriers (NTBs),” Uganda said in the new audit results published by EAC secretary-general Richard Sezibera. Teams from Uganda and Kenya in charge of eliminating NTBs are expected to deliberate and find a solution to the problem or have it referred to the bloc’s top decision organ, the Council of Ministers, for action. Kenyan officials have been engaged in a long-running spat with Ugandan traders over uncollected cargo at the port. Mombasa port has in recent years experienced congestion, which Kenya Ports Authority attributed to lack of space following delays by importers and clearing agents to promptly collect containers. The port is seen as a measure of economic activity in East Africa as it handles fuel, consumer goods and other imports for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC and Somalia as well as exports of tea and coffee from the region. Only this week, the Uganda...

Six Netherlands Ambassadors based in the EAC countries and the DRC visited the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), on Thursday 15 January. The main objective of the visit that was organized by TradeMark Africa was to assess the customs reforms at the URA for Uganda and the region, a program that is supported by the Government of Uganda and several Development Partners, including the World Bank and the Governments of Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdomand the Netherlands. During the URA visit the Ambassadors interacted with several companies including DHL, SolarNow SEKO Logistics, Nice House of Plastics, Unifreight and Rapid Kate. [caption id="attachment_5616" align="alignleft" width="450"] Trucks crossing from Kenya to Uganda[/caption] The Ambassadors understood that the new electronic tracking of cargo trucks had led to the complete elimination of physical escorts, improved the security of goods in transit, improved staff performance and reduced transit time from 8days to 2days resulting in cost savings of US$400-600 per truck per day. Between 9th May and 6th August 2014, over 4214 consignments used ECTS, resulting in savings of almost US$ 548,000 in escort fees. The Ambassadors appreciated that the new ASYCUDA World computer system has enabled URA to operationalize the implementation of the Single Customs Territory (SCT) by eliminating the need of multiple declarations to just two, at the point of entry in the EAC and at final destination. URA has also seen an increase inrevenue collections by 16% from 2013 to 2014 and an increase of 18% in fuel volumes for period February to July...

New machine readable East African Passports that will also allow holders to travel around the world, will be unveiled next November and start to be issued to citizens of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi shortly after. The new state-of-the-art electronic EA travel documents are to be officially launched by the five Heads of State during their forthcoming summit in Arusha on 30, November 2015, according to the Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Dr Richard Sezibera. The now fully upgraded new EAC passports have been made to fully comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, which means they can easily replace national passports among the residents of the five East African countries. The ICAO standardises and publishes Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, which form the basis for the technical standard for machine-readable passports worldwide. Textual form is written as strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for optical character recognition. Previous details of the applicant for the EAC passport are to be legible through computers while the signatures and holders' photographs will be acquired and digitally stored in both regional and international database. The old model of the EA passports introduced nearly a decade ago by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda before the joining of the Rwanda and Burundi to the EAC four years ago, has the holder data typewritten or hand written on it. The old travel document being phased out now was meant to simply ease border crossings within the three member...

The East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have this morning jointly launched Round-Tables for Consolidating Regional Stability through Peaceful Elections in the Republic of Burundi at the Royal Palace Hotel, in Bujumbura, Burundi. Themed Peaceful Elections in Burundi for Regional Integration, the COMESA-EAC Roundtables are joint dialogue initiatives/activities geared towards promoting a peaceful environment for elections, prevent elections-related violent conflict and support a smooth transition during and after the 2015 elections in Burundi. Launching the Roundtables, the First Vice President of the Republic of Burundi, HE Prosper Bazombanza commended the EAC and COMESA Secretariats for organizing the important dialogue roundtables at the right time when Burundi was heading towards General Elections from May 2015. The First Vice President reiterated the region's a firm desire to see democratic, peaceful and stable elections in the Partner States and commended the two Regional Economic Communities for the role they have played and continue to play in supporting the consolidation of democracy, peace and stability in Burundi. The First Vice President welcomed the inclusive roundtable as it gave the Barundi people another opportunity to share experiences, to dialogue on the pertinent issues, and to outline the initiatives that should be taken by various stakeholders as the election approaches “in order for us to achieve the goals we want”. “It goes without saying that it is the values of dialogue and inclusion that are of the essence during this period, and which will enhance reconciliation efforts and...

Norway and the East African Community (EAC) member states are set to hold exploratory talks on a comprehensive free trade agreement, a Norwegian diplomat said on Thursday. Norway's Ambassador to Kenya Victor Ronneberg told Xinhua in Nairobi that Norway and East Africa currently have a trade pact that will expire in 2021. "Both parties have expressed interest to have a trade deal along the lines of the Economic Partnership Agreement that has been signed between the European Union (EU) and the EAC," Ronneberg said during a courtesy call to the Safi International Kenya. Norway is among the European nations such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland that are not members of the EU. They are members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The ambassador said the current trade deal between EFTA and Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda (EAC states) offers products and service from either regions limited access to each other markets. "However, EAC products will not continue to access Norwegian markets if they graduate to become middle income states," he said. According to the envoy, the talks will take place in phases. Ronneberg said the level of trade between Kenya and Norway remains way below the potential. Data from the Norwegian Embassy in Kenya indicates that the Nordic nation provided 4 million U.S. dollars in aid to Kenya in 2014. "Most of the funds were used to assist Kenya to implement its new constitution as well as promote gender equality," said Ronnerberg, noting that Norwegian investors are increasingly...

East African Community (EAC) partner states made significant progress during 2014 in terms of integration by ratifying and implementing several protocols and agreements, the regional grouping's secretary-general has said. "The single customs protocol has been properly implemented in the northern and southern corridors," Richard Sezibera told a Tuesday press conference at the EAC's Arusha headquarters. The northern corridor runs from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to Ugandan capital Kampala, before continuing on to Rwandan capital Kigali. The southern corridor runs from the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam to Burundian capital Bujumbura and Kigali. Briefing the media on the EAC's achievements in 2014 and the way forward this year, Sezibera said the grouping's five member states had introduced a "single window" at the two ports, the two main entrances to the region. He added that member states had also introduced an electronic cargo tracking system. "All documentation and transactions regarding the movement of goods are done at one point in order to reduce business costs and time spent," said Sezibera. "By implementing the single customs protocol, roadblocks and other non-tariff barriers have been removed or reduced within the entire EAC region," he asserted. The EAC chief went on to note that, during the 2014/15 financial year, member states had invested in numerous road and rail projects. "While Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are investing in central railway corridor projects, which will also connect the region to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya is engaging in a standard gauge...

The East African Community (EAC) is a great idea that has borne much fruit and is probably destined to go far. After the unfortunate collapse of the original EAC in the 1970s, the bloc was revived by regional leaders in the 1990s and arguably remains one of the rare achievements of the much-maligned Kanu regime. With time, citizens of the now five countries have come to appreciate the benefits of having the bloc. Interestingly, even a perceived reluctant integration candidate like Tanzania has grown to be Kenya’s most important trade partner with locals especially in the north of the country benefiting immensely from the market provided by Nairobi city. However, the bureaucrats perhaps with the connivance of politicians, do not see the inevitable: that you cannot stop the progress of the economic bloc, even if you were to delay it with a raft of administrative or non-tariff barriers (NTBs). This is because in a voluntary bloc, reciprocity is the driving principal. From Tanzania blocking Kenyan tour vans from accessing Tanzanian game parks to Kenya—in apparent retaliation—blocking Dar buses from dropping tourists at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), we have seen it all. None of them is wrong or right: there is nothing like free lunch in a bloc though. Yesterday, we reported that regional countries are negotiating to allow airlines to operate freely from all countries without restricting carriers from emanating flights from the country of origin. That will probably cut the rent enjoyed by the likes of Kenya...

Regional blocs including the East African Community (EAC) should introduce a levy on imports to help self-finance its organs, a new report suggests. The regional entities have depended solely on contributions from members yet a number of countries have not been meeting their obligations. A report by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), a financier of research institutions in Africa for over a decade, said a country facing an economic crisis or catastrophe finds it difficult to pay dues. ACBF said integration schemes such as EAC and the Common Market for Eastern and South African have copied the Eurozone model of regional groupings that depend on member contributions. “A funding mechanism that combines national contributions with independent revenues, such as import levies, would go a long way to helping African regional economic communities become financially independent,” said the report. However, analysts said clarity would be needed on how such a tax is to be implemented because some of the countries may fail to co-operate since the blocs do not have tax collection machinery. “It is very good to have an alternative method of financing regional initiatives such as those we are party to. But the tax also has to be collected by someone. Who is it that would collect it?” asked Joseph Kieyah, principal policy analyst at the Kenya Institute of Public policy Research and Analysis. Prof Kieyah said the levy alone would not achieve much unless there are willing participants in regional integration schemes. He said the citizenry and...

Ugandan traders are on the spot for choking the Mombasa port with thousands of uncollected cargo containers ahead of an expected surge in trade volumes at the harbour. Some 3,698 cargo containers destined for Uganda remained uncollected at the port as at last Monday, raising concerns of clogging at the port when business picks up after the festive season. A shipping list released by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Tuesday showed an anticipated jump in the volume of activity at the port with some 34 container ships expected to dock over the next 14 days. Traders and transporters told the Business Daily that Kenyan and Ugandan authorities were exerting pressure on cargo owners to clear the goods to avert a pile-up. “The pressure is mainly on Ugandan traders because the costs involved in carrying the cargo through to their country may be prohibitive, especially if they accrued storage charges,” Abdul Nadhif, a cargo dealer said. Shipping a container from Tokyo to Mombasa costs less than transporting it to Uganda from the port, the World Bank said in 2012, and there has been little improvement since then. The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) on Monday issued a notice to traders to clear their cargo from the port to avoid penalties, including auctioning of overstayed goods. “Owners of the goods are requested to immediately clear the goods out of the port as delays in clearance will lead to accumulation of storage and customs warehouse charges,” Richard Kamajugo, commissioner for customs said in a...