East African Community Secretariat; Arusha, Tanzania; 27 September 2017:

Revenue losses from inefficient border procedures in some African countries are estimated to exceed 5% of the Gross Domestic Product, a Roundtable Conference on Trade Facilitation (TF) held at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, was told today.

Citing a 2013 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study, Mr. James Kisaale, an Assistant Commissioner with the Uganda Revenue Authority, said that reducing global trade costs by 1% would increase worldwide income by more than US$40 billion, with developing countries being the biggest beneficiaries.
Kisaale said the areas that would contribute the most to lowering trade costs in Sub-Saharan Africa were formalities, namely automation, the simplification and harmonisation of documents, and information availability.

Kisaale was speaking during the opening session of the one-day roundtable on trade facilitation which brought together EAC Development Partners as well as Customs and Trade experts from the EAC Secretariat and Partner States’ Ministries of Trade.

The EAC Secretariat organised the Roundtable Conference to review and fast-track the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA). The Conference brought together Development Partners who will work with the EAC in the implementation of the TFA.

Opening the roundtable, the EAC Director General (DG)-Customs and Trade, Mr. Kenneth Bagamuhunda, said that TF was an integral part of the EAC Customs Union Protocol which explicitly provides for reduction in the number and volume of trade documents.

“TF also provides for the adoption of common standards of trade documentation and procedures, coordination and facilitation of trade and transport activities. There is also the reviewing of procedures adopted in international trade and transport facilitation with a view to simplifying and adopting them for use in the EAC,” said the Bagamuhunda.

The DG disclosed that an EAC Trade and Facilitation Sub-Committee has been established to, among other things, supervise the implementation of the WTO TFA at regional and national levels.

He said that Regional and National Implementation Plans for the WTO TFA have been finalized and adopted by the Policy organs.

“Amendments of regional laws, regulations and procedures; development of project proposals for resource mobilization, and; sensitization of stakeholders is currently underway,” added the DG.

He cited the Single Customs Territory (SCT) and the interconnectivity of customs systems among some of the key TFA components that have been implemented by the EAC.
“The SCT provides for the free circulation of goods, reduces cost of doing business, reduces Non-Tariff Barriers, ensures competitiveness, boosts business predictability and promotes investment,” he said, adding that SCT is premised on the use of electronic systems.

Other components already implemented are: the establishment of One-Stop Border Posts; harmonisation of standards, reduction of Non-tariff barriers, and; publication of the EAC Trade and Investment report.

Speaking at the forum, Amb. Arthur Mattli, Switzerland’s Representative to the EAC, said that his country believes that bureaucratic delays and ‘red tapes’ pose an unnecessary and expensive burden for moving goods across borders for traders.

Amb. Mattli said the TFA would help developing countries diversify their exports and tap into global value chains.

He disclosed that Switzerland had so far disbursed US$3.5 million as part of its contribution to the TFA’s Trade Facilitation Support Programme, a multi-donor programme of the World Bank Group’s Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice which provides support for countries seeking assistance in aligning their trade practices with the WTO TFA.

“Every country is eligible to receive support under the programme. Eligible countries are expected to have demonstrated a strong commitment to implementing trade facilitation reforms in the areas covered by the WTO TFA. Moreover, the support programme will prioritize assistance to countries with other limited access to other donor support,” said Amb. Mattli.

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Notes to Editor: 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) entered into force on 22nd February, 2017 following its ratification by two-thirds (2/3) of the WTO membership, including two EAC Partner States Kenya and Rwanda. The TFA contains among others provisions relating to the transparency, expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. The agreement also sets out measures for effective cooperation between Customs and other border agencies on trade facilitation, customs and trade compliance issues.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org

About the East African Community Secretariat:

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

East African Community Secretariat; Arusha, Tanzania; 27 September 2017:

Some 1,500 people die annually from rabies in the United Republic of Tanzania alone, according to scientific estimates. Official numbers are lower, because many cases are not reported and not all reported cases appear in the official statistics. Most rabies victims are children and dog bites are the main path of transmission.
 
Rabies is an infectious disease of public health concern for the entire East African region and beyond. Against this backdrop, the EAC Secretariat supports the World Rabies Day, which takes place on 28 September, 2017, through the ‘Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC Region’ project that is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
 
Rabies is the most fatal virus zoonosis (disease that can be transmitted between animals and humans) known to mankind. Once an infected person shows signs, there is no cure to rabies. In Africa and Asia, many humans get infected by rabies through dog bites. The World Health Organization (WHO) underscores the importance of dog vaccination as the most effective intervention against rabies, decreasing rabies in dogs and having a direct impact on public health by reducing transmission to humans.
 
“The planned Rabies Vaccination Initiative around the World Rabies Day is a striking example for the importance of close cooperation between human and animal medical professions and for the necessity of the One Health approach when preventing and controlling zoonotic diseases,” emphasise both, Dr Stanley Sonoiya, Head of the EAC’s Health Department, and Fahari G. Marwa, Head of the EAC’s Agriculture and Food Security Department. The EAC Secretariat strives to implement the One Health approach in the EAC Region.
 
The 28th of September every year is observed to commemorate World Rabies Day, a day that marks the anniversary of the demise of Louis Pasteur, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine. While observing this day, we raise awareness on rabies prevention and highlight progress in the fight against rabies that puts human and animal health at risk.
 
Supported by the EAC Secretariat, WHO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) among others, Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue will vaccinate an estimated 5,000 dogs across 20 vaccination stations in Arusha City on World Rabies Day. In addition, Mbwa Wa Africa raises awareness in about 70 schools in Arusha on how to safely approach dogs and on how to read possible signs of rabies infection and to distinguish infected from healthy dogs. Weekly rabies awareness articles will be published in both English and Swahili newspapers.
 
The activities are planned in collaboration with the Arusha City Council in liaison with the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health. The EAC Secretariat intends to support the World Rabies Day 2018 celebrations in all Partner States to further emphasise the regional significance.
 
This is especially true for high risk cross-border areas among local communities surrounding National Parks and Game Reserves. The latter initiative will target transmission of rabies in wild dogs and foxes.
 
Below are the vaccination stations and respective dates.

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For more information, please contact:

Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org

About the East African Community Secretariat:

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.