Browsing: EAC

EAC Secretary General Dr Peter Mathuki.
  • The programme, being implemented with the support of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), is aimed at bolstering the region’s private sector by encouraging participation in both regional and international trade.
  • Intra-regional trade within the East African Community (EAC) is on an upward trajectory, standing at $10.17 billion as of September 2022 while total trade with the rest of the world stood at $62 billion, highlighting a need for further improvement. This represents a 20 percent share of Intra-trade to global trade.
  • The digitisation of the CETs will see the region’s business community — exporters and importers- gain access to trade information from the private sector in international trade.

The East African Community (EAC) secretariat has embarked on the digitising its Common External Tariffs (CET) a move that is billed to encourage the countries’ participation in regional and international trade.

The CET is meant to protect the member countries of the

  • Uganda’s Ministry for East African Community Affairs is seeking $900,000 for the coordination and promotion of Kiswahili as an official language.
  • The plan is part of the recommendations of a report of the Committee on the East African Community Affairs on the sector Ministerial Policy Statement for Financial Year 2023/24.
  • The report cites the lack of a uniting language [Kiswahili] as a huge stumbling block to communication, a key ingredient of EAC integration.

Uganda’s Ministry for East African Community Affairs (MEACA) is seeking $24 million for the coordination and promotion of Kiswahili as an official language.

This is part of the recommendations of a report of a Committee on the East African Community Affairs on the sector Ministerial Policy Statement for Financial Year 2023/24.

The report presented to the House on Wednesday, 19 April 2023, by the Chairperson, Kisembo Basemera cited the lack of a uniting language [Kiswahili] as a …

Kenya and the UK agreed to accelerate work to remove barriers affecting bilateral trade and investment,
  • Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade, and Industry Moses Kuria is leading a high-powered government delegation to London for the Economic Partnership Agreement and Investment meeting.
  • Kenya is leveraging on the talks to intensify pitches to investors.
  • This is in an effort to net at least $10 billion in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) this year.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade, and Industry Moses Kuria is this week leading a high-powered government delegation to London for the Economic Partnership Agreement and Investment meeting, that Kenya seeks to intensify pitches to investors.

The government is aiming to net at least $10 billion in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) this year in a plan mooted by the Kenya Investment Authority.

The forum is being held through a Ministerial Council meeting on the Economic Partnership Agreement, which was scheduled to kick-off on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 in London.

“The forum will provide a platform …

AGOA
  • The influx of used clothes from the west in effect affects the development of textile industries in the EAC
  • Five years later, a new administration, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war not to mention a stronger China economy, the US may reconsider EAC state’s position.
  • EA States have 2 years to consider if they want AGOA renewed

In 2015, all major economies in East Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia proposed to ban the importation of second-hand clothes but the US would have none of it.

The intention was good, even noble: Banning second-hand imports would strengthen the domestic textile industry which would create jobs and other positive ripple effects.

“The US claimed this proposal goes too far and violates the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which aims to expand trade and investment on the continent,” the media reported.

Once the US pulled the AGOA card, the East African …

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi (pictured), reassures investors through ANAPI, the DRC investment portal, the country is safe and open for business. The statement comes in the wake of a recent extraordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State that resolved for an immediate cease-fire by all parties. Photo/Reuters
  • DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
  • Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
  • EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

When completed, the DRC's Inga hydropower dam will have the capacity to produce 40,000MW that is more than double the Three Gorges in China, the world's largest power station. Photo/ElectrictyHub
  • The DRC is viewed as a most promising member of the regional bloc offering a market of over 96 million people.
  • DRC is also rich in many coveted minerals such as cobalt and Nickel, gold, and diamonds, which has caused a long-standing conflict.
  • The EAC peace forces in the DRC were sent in early last year to restore peace and stability in the region.

The East Africa Community (EAC) has been touted as a model for regional economic blocs in Africa but the tension between Rwanda and the bloc’s newest member, DRC, is threatening to derail the region’s social and economic integration.   

The two neighboring countries have had a dicey relationship in the recent past with the largest country of the EAC, the DRC, accusing the smallest country in the region, Rwanda, of supporting rebels within its borders.

The DRC is viewed as a most promising member of the regional

KQ codesharing deal
  • Limited infrastructure, lack of standardized regulations and high air transport costs are among the challenges affecting the air transport sector in the East African Community according to a new report by East Africa Business Council. 
  • According to the report, limited liberalization of air transport contributes to high flight ticket rates and visa restrictions limit the movement of non-residents into the EAC region.
  • The report calls for an EAC single air transport services agreement in a bid to lower the cost of air transport within the region. 

Air Transport costs in the East African Community are higher than those in Europe and other African countries according to a new report by East Africa Business Council. 

According to the report, the ticket price per kilometre in the EAC region is more than twice the ticket price for destinations in Europe and other countries in Africa.

‘‘The average ticket price per km in

African Union Passport
  • Region economic communities such as East African Community (EAC) are opening doors for citizens to expand their hands across various economic opportunities.
  • The movement of people over space and time is the bloodline of the modern world’s economies.
  • South Africa, Africa’s highest ranked passport, was position 54 globally with South Africans having visa-free access to 106 nations.

A recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report revealed that an American passport holder can access 43 percent of the global GDP without a visa while a United Arab Emirates (UAE) passport gives access to 70 percent of the global GDP.

In contrast, the Nigerian (top African economy) passport holder can access 20 percent of the world, equivalent to 1.5 percent of the global GDP. The measure of access is a wake-up call on assessing strategies and measures regarding the movement of people over space and time in Africa.

Since the launch of the …

Flight prices in Africa are under debt, stakeholders want airlines operating within the continent to lower fares. Photo/CapitalNews
  • EAC Partner States need to fast-track implementation regulations on the liberalisation of air transport
  • An extra 155,000 jobs and US$1.3 billion in annual GDP would be created if 12 countries opened their skies.
  • Africa has formed the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) to spearhead a single unified air transport market to advance the liberalization of civil aviation in Africa.

In the spirit of creating a single market and increased integration of Africa’s 54 nations, stakeholders want airlines operating within the continent to lower fares.

Recent research by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed that ‘if just 12 key Africa countries opened their markets and increased connectivity, an extra 155,000 jobs and US$1.3 billion in annual GDP would be created in those countries.’

These are significant figures by any measure and IATA, the trade association for the world's airlines, representing some 260 members, maintains that lowering flight prices in…

East Africa single tourist visa: Buy a visa to Rwanda and get to visit all of Tanzania’s and Kenya’s tourist attractions, in fact, with that single visa you can tour all the 7 countries of East Africa. Photo/MicatoSafaris
  • For over a decade, the East Africa single tourist visa programme has been discussed and proposed by EAC governments.
  • Rwanda maintains that the East Africa single tourist visa will help market the entire region as a single tourist destination.
  • The response from Tanzania is promising compared to the non-committal stance in previous engagements.

Buy a visa to Rwanda and get to visit all of Tanzania’s and Kenya’s tourist attractions. In fact, with that single visa you can tour all the 7 countries of East Africa. This is what the East Africa single tourist visa programme proposes.

Tanzania is home to some of the World’s most revered tourist attractions; the likes of the highest mountain in Africa, The Kilimanjaro; the Serengeti, home to the world’s largest wildebeest migration and the Ngorongoro crater, where visitors can see the world’s only known tree climbing lions and deemed the 8th wonder of the …