The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), which was launched on 10th June 2015, aims to establish a single market for 27 African countries with a combined population of about 700 million people (57% of Africa’s population), and Gross Domestic Product above USD 1.4 trillion.
The TFTA is built on three pillars (market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development) and there is a parallel agreement on movement of business persons. The Tripartite approach reflects the desire to advance regional integration from multiple fronts. As such, the TFTA would facilitate development of regional infrastructure for cross-border trade and lead to harmonisation of trade regimes amongst Tripartite Member/Partner States, stimulate industrial development through creation of value chains and facilitate movement of business persons.
As part of the market integration pillar, Member/Partner States have been engaged in bilateral tariff liberalisation negotiations. The market access negotiations between the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), consisting of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, and the East African Community (EAC), which consists of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda have largely been successfully concluded.
The conclusion of the SACU-EAC negotiations marks a significant step towards realising the benefits of the TFTA. The main aim of the SACU-EAC market access negotiations has always been to provide commercially meaningful market access for the private sector in the two regions.
The SACU-EAC private sector will thus have access to new and dynamic markets for exports as well as new sources of inputs for domestic production processes, thereby enhancing intra-regional trade.
Furthermore, there is emphasis on the development of regional value chains in a wide range of sectors, to deepen integration between SACU and the EAC.
The conclusion of the negotiations provides an opportunity for the TFTA to be a building block and to have a coordinated approach for negotiations in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
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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.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania 5th June, 2019: A five-day East African Community Sectoral Council Meeting on Education, Science and Technology, Culture and Sports is currently ongoing at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The 15th Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Education, Science and Technology, Culture and Sports started with the Session of Senior Officials on 3rd June, 2019 and ends Wednesday, 5th June, 2019. The Coordination Committee or the Session of Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries will be held on Thursday, 6th June, 2019, and the Ministerial Session on Friday, 7th June, 2019.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania 3rd June, 2019: A five-day East African Community Sectoral Council on Energy meeting is currently underway at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The 14th Sectoral Council meeting started today with the Session of Senior Officials which runs from 3rd to 5thJune, 2019 followed by the Coordination Committee (Session of Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries) on 6thJune, 2019, and the Ministerial Session on 7thJune, 2019.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 28th May, 2019: The Chairperson of the 20th Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers for Lake Victoria Basin (20th SECOM), Dr. Vincent Biruta, Minister for Environment of Rwanda has urged delegates from five Partner States of the East African Community to enhance efforts towards meeting present needs without compromising next generation’s needs.
According to the Chairperson of the 20th SECOM, the realization of such development aspiration lies in putting in place a green economy model, ensuring social equity and striving for wellbeing of citizens in East African Partner States. He made the remarks while opening the Ministerial Session of the 20th SECOM held in Kisumu, Republic of Kenya, 24th May 2019.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 27th May, 2019: A five-day East African Community Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) meeting is currently underway at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The SCTIFI meeting started today with the Session of Senior Officials which runs from 27th to 29thMay, 2019 followed by the Coordination Committee (Session of Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries) on 30thMay, 2019 and the Ministers Session on 31stMay, 2019.
Kampala, May 22nd, 2019: The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), a Regional Facilitation Unit for the World Bank-supported Africa Centers of Excellence for East and Southern Africa Project (ACE II) has completed the process of selection of Incubation Centers to be hosted at four of the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACEs). Each Center will receive a financial award of US$ 250,000, a World Bank grant, as seed funds for the establishment of these regional Incubation Centers for East and Southern Africa. The ACEs selected to host the Incubation Centers are:
ACEESD – African Center of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development, University of Rwanda
CREATES – Center for Research Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability in Food and Nutrition Security, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Tanzania
PHARMBIOTRAC – Center for Pharm-Bio Technology and Traditional Technology, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda
PTRE - Center of Excellence in Phytochemicals, Textile and Renewable Energy based at Moi University, Kenya
IUCEA received 15 proposals in response to a call that was issued in June 2018. The call invited any African Center of Excellence participating in the ACE II Project to submit proposals to host Incubation Centers through a co-financing arrangement in the four priority areas of the ACE II Project which include health, industry, agriculture, and education/applied statistics. The proposals were evaluated through a rigorous 3-step process by an international team of experts with extensive experience in business incubation, start-ups creation and successful commercialization of innovations and covered a diverse array of important topics -- such as energy for sustainable development, innovative drugs development, food and nutrition security, among others -- that are critical to the development of the region.
In the evaluation process priority was given to ACEs that already had good enough products that may require improvement, promotion for wider markets and potential for business incubation, i.e. the process of nurturing of early stage ventures to success. Another key criterion considered was the capacity to source additional sources of co-financing for the Center, to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the incubation center.
According to Dr. K. A. Appiah, a member of the Regional Steering Committee of the ACE II project who chaired the Independence Selection Panel, "the quality of the proposals that were submitted was quite high, and it was a difficult decision to have to select only 4 out of the 15 proposals submitted,” he said. He added, “We hope that more funding can be made available by host governments and other institutions to fund other incubation centers. Our international team of experts were very impressed and eager to work with the selected ACEs to ensure that the selected incubation centers are successful in commercializing research innovations towards job creation and economic growth."
The selection panel recommended that although the fifth selected institution, Center for Innovative Drugs Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa) could not be funded, the proposal “was one of the best and needed to be considered as a non-funded Incubation Center.”
The IUCEA and the World Bank believe that such incubation centers will help build important linkages between academia and industry to help galvanize business growth in these priority areas that are critical to long-term growth and development of the region.
“The World Bank believes strongly in the innovation potential of African research, as a key lever in the continued economic development of the continent, and these incubations centers will serve as important hubs where the impact of research can be transformed to commercial opportunities. We hope these centers will be the first among many to follow,” said Dr. Roberta Malee Bassett, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank and Task Team Leader for ACE II Project.
The Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE II) Project supports the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia in strengthening selected African Centers of Excellence (ACEs) to deliver quality post-graduate education and build collaborative research capacity in the priority areas of (i) Industry, (ii) Agriculture, (iii) Health, (iv) Education, and (v) Applied Statistics.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 21st May, 2019: The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat will convene a cross border field simulation exercise (FSX) at the Namanga border between the Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania from 11th to 14th June 2019 as directed by the EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health in 2015. The FSX aims to enhance the status of preparedness for and response to infectious disease outbreaks in the EAC, thereby making the region safe for the people and businesses in the region. While the majority of the estimated 250 participants will come from the two Partner States, stakeholders from the Republics of Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda and representatives from regional, supra-regional and international institutions and organisations will also participate. Not all the participants will be at Namanga, but work from their usual work places in Dar Es Salaam and Dodoma, Arusha and Nairobi, Longido, Kajiado and in the border area. Only the EAC Secretariat will have its operations centre at the One Stop Border Post (OSBP).
Seventy-five percent of infectious diseases are transmitted between animals and humans. Outbreaks affect agriculture, trade and tourism and the lives and livelihoods of the people. Involving these sectors in prevention, response and mitigation reflects what is called the “One Health” disease management approach. The EAC region has experienced cases of Ebola, Rift Valley, Marburg and Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic fevers, Cholera, Polio and Plague among others. The current Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has so far caused over 1,600 human cases and more than 1,000 deaths, remains a major threat to the health and socio-economic wellbeing of the people of East Africa. Therefore, the region needs to be prepared and the ongoing efforts to operationalize national and regional contingency plans need to be strengthened. In this regard, the planned cross-border Field Simulation Exercise aims to strengthen the capacities of all people involved in preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks across different professions and sectors of society.
An FSX is an interactive instrument to evaluate the status of preparedness for and response to disease outbreaks of organisations or other entities in the EAC region. It simulates a situation under real conditions which could occur at any time. The FSX allows participants to identify strengths and weaknesses and can facilitate practical corrective actions at all levels. It will be used to assess coordination and collaboration mechanisms, emergency response deployment, logistics and administrative processes, risk and crisis communication as well as emergency management and leadership. Findings from the FSX will be used to further improve preparedness and response capacities in the EAC region and beyond.
The scenario of the exercise will mimic a cross border disease outbreak, aggravated by environmental factors and with impact on humans and animals, agriculture, trade and tourism, and the economy as a whole. Early warning, infections and deaths in animals and human beings will prompt the reporting and activation of national and regional preparedness and response mechanisms emphasising the importance of the One Health approach and of appropriate risk and crisis communication as well as cross border collaboration.
Based on the recent need to prepare EAC Partner States for Ebola due to the current outbreak in DRC, the fictitious component will feature a virus that will mutate into a pathogen that can be transmitted between humans causing severe fever and bleeding resulting in increased numbers of cases and deaths. This will help in assessing and building EAC Secretariat’s and Partner States’ capacities to prepare and respond to an Ebola-like situation.
With this press release, the EAC Secretariat informs the public and especially the communities in the border area about the exercise. Around Namanga, selected health facilities, slaughter houses and farms on both sides of the border, military and police, the media and last but not least the public will participate in the FSX. The main focus will be on the One Stop Border Post as the main crossing point for people and goods between the two countries.
Preparations for the Field Simulation Exercise are already ongoing and will be in full swing between 8th and 11th June 2019, ahead of the expected start of the FSX on 11th June 2019.
The exercise is planned and organized in a way that ensures minimal disruption of normal activities traffic at the OSPB and other simulation sites. All sites will be well marked and passengers will be informed about the exercise so that passers-by will know what is going on, when they see the military, ambulances and people in protective gear and can thus behave accordingly and contribute to the success of the exercise.
The cross-border field simulation exercise is supported by the “Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC Region” project, which the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements on behalf of the German Government and the EAC. The World Health Organization is providing technical support throughout the planning and implementation of FSX in line with its mandate of implementing the International Health Regulations globally.
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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.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 20th May, 2019: The 45th East African Community Consultative Meeting aimed at improving Air Transport in the region concluded on Friday 17th May, 2019, at Lake Naivasha Resort in Naivasha, Kenya.
The EAC Consultative meeting on facilitation of Air Transport is a forum for discussion on issues that affect Air Transport in the region in order to comply with Annex 9 (Air Transport Facilitation) and Annex 17 (Aviation Security) of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The meeting refers to the ICAO international standards and recommended practices and proposes appropriate recommendations to be implemented by the Partner States at the various EAC international Airports. It is hosted by EAC Partner States, twice a year on rotational basis.
East African Legislative Assembly, Arusha, Tanzania: 15th May 2019:The regional Assembly has once again reiterated the need for Partner States to implement the Malabo Declaration as a means to ensuring food security and transformation of the agricultural sector. With that, the Assembly at its sitting late yesterday approved the report of the Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources on Budgetary Enhancement in the Agricultural Sector.
The report presented to the House by the Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Mathias Kasamba states that despite its potential, the agriculture sector has been growing slowly over the years and continues to attract limited funding from governments, far below the continental benchmark of 10%. Moreover, Partner States are yet to put in place action plan(s) for attaining the 10% budgetary allocation to the sector. Hon Kasamba also told an attentive House that young people are losing interest in agricultural activities, a situation which, if not addressed, threatens the sustainability of the sector.
Conscious of the challenges and opportunities of agriculture and its positive contribution to economic transformation on the Africa continent, the African Union leaders adopted a Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) known as the Maputo Declaration in 2003. A decade later, the African Union leaders reiterated their engagement to agriculture by adopting the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation in June 2014. Accordingly, all Partner States are in consonance with the Malabo Declaration expected to allocate 10% of their national budgets to Agriculture, which is key contributor to the nations’ gross domestic product, accounting for dependency of the livelihoods of over 70% of the population.
The report reveals a number of challenges within the Partner States, while saying that many Partner States can address some of the challenges given the fact they are at an advanced stage of preparation of their 2019/2020 national budgets.
At debate time, Hon Engineer Habib Mnyaa called on the Assembly to collaborate more closely with the relevant committees in the national Parliaments to allow for the push of enhanced budgets. Hon Amb Fatuma Ndangiza termed agricultural sector as crucial in the economies of the Partner States and the region. “Agriculture remains to be critical in all the EAC Partner States with 70-72% of the citizens in the region depending on the Agriculture Sector”, the legislator remarked.
Hon. Pierre Celestin Rwigema Informed the House of the necessity for the Partner States to secure ready market for farmers’ produce within the region. Further, the legislator reiterated improved infrastructure would allow for smooth movement of the agricultural produce. Hon. Mary Mugyenyi remarked that agricultural farming methods need to be modernized while calling upon stakeholders to do more to attract interest from the youth in the region.
Other Members who rose up in support of the report were Hon. Abdikadir Omar Aden, Hon. Sophie Nsavyimana, Hon.Gai Deng, Hon. Abdullah Makame, Hon. Francoise Uwumukiza and Hon. Jean Claude Barimuyabo.
The Agriculture Sector is a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the East African region with Kenya accounting for 31.3%, Uganda (25%), Burundi (34.2%), Tanzania (30%), Rwanda (33%) and South Sudan (34.5%).
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For more information, please contact:
Bobi Odiko Senior Public Relations Officer East African Legislative Assembly Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255-27-2508240 Fax: +255-27-2503103 Cell: +255-787-870945, +254-733-718036 Email: BOdiko [at] eachq.org Web: www.eala.org
About the East African Legislative Assembly:
The East African Legislative Assembly is the Legislative Organ of the East African Community. Its Membership consists of a total of 62, of whom 54 are elected Members (9 from each Partner State) and eight ex-officio members (the Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs from the Partner States, the Secretary General of the Community and the Counsel to the Community).
The East African Legislative Assembly has legislative functions as well as oversight of all East African Community matters. The enactment of legislation of the Community is put in effect by means of Bills passed by the Assembly and assented to by the Heads of State, and every Bill that has been duly passed and assented to become an Act of the Community and takes precedent over similar legislations in the Partner States. EALA has to date passed 79 pieces of legislation.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 14th April, 2019: The East African Community-German Business and Investment Expert Dialogue co-organized by the East African Business Council (EABC) and the German-African Business Association was held today at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The overall objective of the one-day Dialogue was to create business synergies in various sectors while showcasing the EAC as an ideal business destination for trade and investment.
