Month: December 2019

The 39^th Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers has approved the Final Draft Cotton, Textiles and Apparels (CTA) Strategy and its Implementation Roadmap. The strategy whose vision is to have “An integrated and globally competitive cotton, textiles and apparels industry,” makes a critical analysis of the CTA sector along the following key levels of the value chain: Cotton Seed (Production); Seed Cotton (Ginning); Cotton lint (Spinning); Yarn Weaving/Knitting/Printing/Dyeing/Finishing), and; Fabrics (Garments/Apparels/Fabrication/Manufacturing) level.

The 39^th Council which was chaired by Rwanda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and East African Community Affairs, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, was attended by line Ministers from all the EAC Partner States and EAC Executives.

The Council further approved the Final Draft Leather and Leather Products Sector Strategy and its Implementation Roadmap. The Council which met at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, further directed EAC Partner States to give priority to …

Rwanda and Uganda are quite ahead of their East African neighbours in the global switch to electric cars, even as infrastructure shortcomings limit investments in the emerging sector.

In the past two months, Kampala and Kigali have unveiled electric vehicle assembly plants, with Kenya and Tanzania only making baby steps toward embracing the new technology.

Uganda’s state-owned Kiira Motors Corporation has so far built two battery-powered cars and a solar electric bus showing its ambition in the region.

The electric bus is called the Kayoola Electric Vehicle Series (EVS) and has been built using Kiira Motors home-grown green mobility technologies while partnering with Motor Co. Ltd, a Chinese Equipment Manufacturer.

The electric buses have a capacity of 90 passengers (49 sitting and 41 standing), compared to the diesel engine vehicles which have a capacity of 65 passengers. They can cover a distance of 300km under a single charge.

Last year …

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has underscored the need for East African Community member states and the wider region to nurture peace and unity, saying colonial boundaries should not divide people.

The President said the region stands to achieve faster development if its people work together in peace and harmony.

READ ALSO:EAC countries rank among world’s rising stars of global trade

“We need to live together as brothers and sisters and respect all communities in the region,” the President said.

The President was speaking at State House, Nairobi, during a meeting with King Abdile Wabar Abdi, the Ethiopian-based traditional leader of the Degodia community found in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti.

King Abdi, who was accompanied by a huge delegation of members of the Degodia community from Kenya and Ethiopia, delivered a message of peace and unity to the President.

President Kenyatta said cultural diplomacy should be used as a …

Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), has partnered with African Development Bank (AfDB), six strong African exchanges and the African Securities Exchange Association (ASEA), to strengthen investments into Africa.

The collaboration comes to foster cross-border trading and settlement of securities across African countries’ exchanges. Further—the initiatives go after unlocking the Pan-African investment potentials, which also leads to the diversification needs of investors and attending to various drawbacks such as the inadequate depth and liquidity in Africa financial markets.

According to a report by Quartz Africa, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is expected to have risen by 20 per cent in 2018 to $ 50 billion after tanking in 2017 by 21 per cent to $42 billion.

More importantly, the seven Stock Exchanges participating in the first phase of the AELP represent about 85% of Africa’s securities market capitalization.

READ: Afreximbank plans $3 billion IPO on London Stock Exchange

The JSE is based …

Established in 2000, the PRSK celebrating outstanding achievements of public relations and communications practitioners.…

The East African Community has marked its 20^th Anniversary with pomp and fanfare at its Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

This comes as the community mulls over the inclusion of The Democratic Republic of Congo into the community, which would not only give the community a major population rise but also a coast to coast linking both the East African coast and the West African coast. Though the considerations are yet to be approved, policy analysts believe this move is a matter of when not if. However, there is still contention on whether to include the East most country, Somalia which has also expressed interest.

Uganda’s 2^nd Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs, Hon. Dr. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, who presided over the anniversary celebration, said that EAC Partner States would not repeat the mistake of the past that led to the collapse of the first Community.

Dr. …