Kenyan and Tanzanian businesses are calling for the elimination of various non-tariff barriers that slow down trade between the two countries.

A consultative meeting held in Dar es Salaam last week between the Tanzania Private Sector Federation (TPSF) and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) noted that Kenyan exporters of cement, edible oils, cigarettes and other products still encounter restrictions on entry into Tanzania while Tanzanian dairy traders are finding it difficult to export to Kenya.

“There is a need to facilitate administrative processes on the movement of goods, including clearance at border points,” the trade lobbies said in a joint communiqué after the meeting on Thursday.

The recommendations of the meeting will form the agenda in the expected bilateral talks between the two countries to be held after general election in Kenya.

“We will continue talking to the governments on these issues and will also engage the companies that initially lobbied for these restrictions on the need to review and change their positions,” the lobbies said.

During the meeting, it was proposed that the East African Community (EAC) promotes harmonisation of standards and co-operation between various agencies.

“The adoption of equivalence and recognition on mutual standards could help address harmonisation between the different bodies and agencies taking into consideration that there are already bodies in the region that have the relevant certification at both regional and international levels,” the organisers said.

During the discussions, the high cost of regulations between the two countries was identified as a hindrance, with both sides seeking to have these costs harmonised to ease the burden of doing business.

It was also noted that trucks that undergo verification at the manufacturers’ premises are still subjected to the same process at the border points.

Dar es Salaam also requires mandatory refumigation of wooden pallets even when this has been done in Kenya.

International standards

“We have agreed that there should be recognition of international standards in respect of treatment of wooden pallets. We will also recommend to the two governments to enhance information sharing and co-operation on standards and verification. Kenya has seen significant reforms in creating a single window system, bringing together multiple agencies, and Tanzania which is working on the same is encouraged to fast-track it,” the lobbies recommended.

The meeting also noted the challenge posed by the existence of two certification agencies – the Tanzania Bureau of Standards and the Tanzania Food and Drug Authority – while in the other EAC countries, only the equivalent of the former exist.

This has brought about duplication and time in efficiencies, which businesses identified as a non-tariff barrier.

“We are recommending that the EAC provide guidance on one standardised regulation to provide guidance on harmonisation of standards,” they said.

TPSF will engage competent agencies to address restriction of petroleum products from Kenya imported through Sirare border point in Tanzania.

Tanzania business community also raised issues with how Kenya applies the Rule of Origin requirement, terming it discriminatory.

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KEPSA – TPSF Private Sector Dialogue on Enhancing Bilateral Trade

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) held a peer to peer dialogue on Thursday, August 3rd 2017 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to deepen trade, investments and enhance bilateral partnerships between the two countries and to develop a joint private sector advocacy platform on issues affecting trade and investment.

The objectives of the Peer to peer dialogue meeting were to:

• To discuss the identified policy and regulatory restrictions that undermine the free movement of goods, services, capital and investment between Kenya and Tanzania and develop responsive measures or reforms.

• To deliberate on possible ways to incorporate the issues into the Private Sectors’ advocacy agendas, and realign them to ensure successful implementation of the CMP.

• To develop a Joint Memorandum on the agreed resolutions to be jointly submitted to the respective Ministries in charge of EAC Affairs.

Under the leadership of Mr. George Owuor, KEPSA Governor and EAC Sector Board Chair the team from KEPSA included representation for various sectors including manufacturing, retail, energy, transport and logistics, healthcare, accounting and architects. The Tanzanian private sector was led by TPSF Chair, Dr. Reginald Mengi and CEO Godfrey Simbiye.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Godfrey Simbiye, CEO TPSF celebrated the dialogue forum as the culmination of an effort that they have sought in deepening relationships with Kenyas private sector since the State visit of H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania to Kenya in 2015 and the subsequent visit by President Magufuli in November 2016. He echoed a call by President Uhuru Kenyatta that the interests of the 2 partner states is “Biashara sio Vikwazo”. He affired that the issues identified and agreed upon would be incorporated into the advocacy agenda in both countries. He challenged the participants that as the East African Community, to not compete, and beyond integration to actually cooperate for the good of the citizens of the two countries and the other partner states.

Dr. Mengi in his key note address noted that the forum was an opportunity for business engagement not a political engagement. He emphasized that the forum was meant to identify the bottlenecks and drawbacks hampering business and investment between our 2 countries and to focus on solving these issues that are hampering cross border trade. He shared his views that as the private sector, we can compete, but on ethical and open grounds and that “Competition sio uadui”. He called for the two countries to drop the competitive nature and to brand and market ourselves as a region across all sector from manufacturing to tourism and others. He urged that we as neighbours should be creating success stories in Kenya and Tanzania, not in other parts of the world.

In his remarks, KEPSA Governor and EAC Sector Board Chair Mr. George Owuor shared that while there are currently barriers and restrictions that affect our ability to trade, he looked forward to the day that businesses of all sizes in both partner states could do business freely. He noted that the restrictions in place currently add costs to business and make their products and services uncompetitive in the region, particularly against external imports. He urged that while the wildebeest risk their lives to cross from the serengeti in Tanzaniz to reach the maassai mara in Kenya, there shouldn’t be any crocodiles waiting at the border waiting as we do business between each other.

The dialogue was extremely successful and developed a consensus  on various issues that would be handled through domestic efforts or at through the EAC as appropriate. The joint memorandum from the peer to peer dialogue will be available shortly.

The framework for the discussions that identified the challenges that Kenyan private sector companies are facing doing business in Tanzania and Tanzanian private sector raised in doing business in Kenya is attached.