Continued investments in trade infrastructure as well as the dismantling of bureaucratic and procedural barriers to economic integration is positioning the East African Community (EAC) as the destination of choice for doing business.

Senior officials from consultants, TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) were last week launching their annual report covering the period 2013/2014. Recently they did the same for Uganda a couple of weeks ago.

TMEA is the lead advisor for improving trade flows across the region.

Partnership between TMEA and the East African governments has been described as vital in achieving the great progress in delivering seven key One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) across East Africa this year.

This has helped increase physical access to markets for both formal and informal traders. 

Nelson Karanja, the TMEA Communications Manager said pilot operations at the Kobero/Kabanga between Tanzania and Burundi borders already indicate a two-day reduction in transit times at Kabanga for cargo trucks.

There has also been a reduction in tedious formalities for traders which previously had an adverse impact on time and costs of business.

Karanja was giving a presentation in an event which was officiated by Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of East Africa Cooperation Joyce Mapunjo.

George Lauwo, Director in Tanzania’s Ministry of East African Cooperation, who represented the PS, expressed appreciation of TMEA work in East Africa and Tanzania in particular.

He reiterated that the government was very pleased with the partnership with TMEA, who continue to work with partners in the region to reduce trade costs in the region. 

“Significant progress has been made on reducing non-tariff barriers in the region with the support of an innovative and world winning SMS based system developed by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Similarly improvements at the Dar port have started taking shape to make it a world class port and facilitate trade for the greater Eastern African region,” Lauwo said.

The report revealed among others details of TMEA’s vision of enhancing interconnectedness in the region through trade by highlighting some of the successful projects they have supported. 

Notable among these is the recent signing of the Mombasa Port Community Charter, witnessed by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta by 25 government and private sector agencies who committed to support initiatives that will increase efficiency at the Mombasa Port and the Northern corridor.

TMEA Tanzania Country Director Dr. Josaphat Kweka said some of the key results included a reduction of average time to clear goods at Mombasa port and transport them to Kampala to four days.

There has been a reduction in the number of customs declarations by 90% leading to an increase in trade volumes.  An example is that of fuel imports into Uganda which have increased from 32.1 million litres to 108 million litres today.

Kweka said the results point to an ever improving trade environment which is expected to spur investments and ultimately benefit the citizens of the East Africa region. 

“TMEA is playing an important role as a catalyst in mobilizing around $600 million at Dar es Salaam Port to improve its performance through better infrastructure and port operations. Our partnerships at both Mombasa and Dar ports involve an innovative approach mixing both hardware and software solutions,” he said.

According to Kweka, more importantly, TMEA has made strides to support informal trade across borders, which is often the lifeline of most rural livelihoods and since these traders do not use available formal systems and structures for their transactions, it is difficult for regional trade policy initiatives to have any significant impact on their lives. 

He said there is therefore a continued effort to ensure these economically disadvantaged populations have access to markets.

What TMEA has done, is facilitate the formation of cooperatives for informal women traders which have enabled them educate their members, access finance as a group, and engage formally with border officials.

The report however highlights the challenges TMEA faced. Many were of an external nature such as increased threats of violence and terrorism.  

However TMEA hope to see a 10% increase in the total value of exports from the EAC and a 25% increase in intra-regional trade exports when compared to total exports in the region by 2016.

TMEA is a non-profit organisation supported by several multilateral  institutions.