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free trade zone distribution hurdles

The irony of EAC’s free trade zone amid persistent distribution hurdles

Industry and Trade
  • The EAC’s distribution sector is marred by systemic challenges, despite claims of a working free trade zone in the bloc.
  • Stakeholders say that persistent bottlenecks hamper the flow of goods and services across the eight-member area.
  • A recent EU-led EAC Peer-to-Peer Learning Conference sought to formulate a strategic action plan to address barriers limiting the industry’s growth and development.

The East African Community (EAC) is an eight-country strong regional free trade bloc in East Africa, by definition, it should mean easier movement or distribution of goods and services, but that’s only true on paper, the reality on the ground is quite on the contrary.

EAC maintains that it is “dedicated to enhancing economic efficiency and fostering regional integration through strategic investments and the utilization of established industries. The goal is to position the Community as a single investment area, harmonizing trade policies, investment incentives, and product standards.”

Protocols demand that …

Tanzania is planning to increase its production of coal by more than three million tonnes annually as it rumps up its drive towards clean energy. Photo/SolarAfrica

Tanzania increases coal production amidst clean energy transition

Countries

Tanzania is planning to increase its production of coal by more than three million tonnes annually as it rumps up its drive towards clean energy.

The country made its plans public at the start of the year through the Tanzania Mining Commission (TMC) which announced that the country has already increased it coal output from 1.5 million tonnes in the 2020/21 period to 1.56 million tonnes by the second half of this financial year 2022/23.

TMC Executive Secretary, Engineer Yahya Samamba, said Tanzania earned 211 million US dollars from the 2020/21 production of 1.5 million tones. He also made it clear that majority of this output was for export with more than 800,000 tonnes for the export market and a little over 60,000 tonnes consumed locally.

Also Read: Equity: Fossil fuel funding dries up as IFC buys bank’s stake

Notably, Tanzania’s coal is exported largely to India, Poland and the

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World trade is increasingly relying on new technologies to meet demand and Asia is likely to take centre stage in the future of global trade. Photo/WTO

New World Order: Changing global trade patterns

Countries

 

World trade is increasingly relying on new technologies to meet demand and Asia is likely to take centre stage in the future of global trade.

Analysts predict Southeast Asia will be the world’s busiest trade area by trade volume.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that billions of dollars are already been invested in warehouses and distribution centers across with ports investing in automated vehicles and cranes to increase efficiency and cut costs in the long term.

Trade in the modern world is global. Flow of goods, services, capital, people and data connects us all. Value chains of even the smallest of daily consumer products are global. Raw, a raw material from Africa is developed in Asia and consumed in the Americas -, that is the modern world and countries that wish to be competitive must adopt.

However, this view of a ‘world village’ is changing, in the wake

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