TradeMark East Africa, a nonprofit organisation promotes regional trade and integration. TMEA has its headquarters in Nairobi with branches in Arusha, Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Kigali. It seeks to unlock economic potential through various interventions. Jason Kap Kirowk TradeMark East Africa Country Director spoke to East African Business Week’s NGUGI NJOROGE on its role in the upcoming tripartite infrastructure conference to be held in Nairobi. Below are excerpts.
What is Trade Mark East Africa all about?
Trade Mark East Africa is basically about trade, markets and investments.
It's about enhancing the trade competitiveness of the East African region. We want to do that in two basic ways, one by integrating East Africa's small markets into one large market of 132 million people. In order to achieve that, we are supporting the East African community in its quest to create a common market. So everything the EAC partners are trying to do to break barriers.
We are also working with various partners both in the public and private sector to look at ways of removing obstacles in the free flow of goods in these major corridors. Right now, for instance, there are unacceptable delays in movement of goods.
The average number it takes to offload goods in Mombasa port is 9 days. Dar res Salaam takes about 12 days on average. That is not acceptable because every day that you delay to move goods, it costs up to US$ 1000.
What are some of these programmes you are involved in?
One, is the Single Window Information for Trade initiative. It is an initiative linked to the National Single Window project. The focus of this, is to create an e-portal, a place on the Internet where if you are an importer or exporter you can get all the information about what is required for you to carry out your trade activities. It is basically to facilitate access to information by importers and exporters.
Under this initiative we have launched the first ever e-portal for Kenya Shippers Council one of the major players in the import export business. We are also at the point of launching a similar one for the Freight Forwarders Association for East Africa. We are also in talks with the Kenya Tea Board to try to set up a similar one.
There is another program called the Transport Observatory Work under which we are trying to set up a system for tracking the movement of goods and the obstacles that transporters face along the way. It is a system for reporting real time, the obstacles and the non tariff barriers that are experienced along the way. We are also involved in the one stop border post initiative. The idea is to reduce delays at the borders by having all procedures done in the same building.
What is your engagement with the private sector on this?
In Kenya we are working with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. We are also working with Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the Kenya Shippers Council and the East African Tea Traders Association. We are working too with the Fresh Produce Association of Kenya and there are several others we are likely to work with. We are building their capacity so that they can play a prominent role in driving forward the integration process, primarily through policy change to create a business friendly environment. That calls for civil society as well.
How is TMEA involved in reducing Non tariff barriers?
We are supporting the National Monitoring Committees on non tariff barriers. These are committees that have formerly been set up by the EAC. Each partner state is supposed to have one. They are inter-ministerial and are supposed to constantly monitor the emergence of non-tariff barriers and try to address them systematically and reduce the non-tariff barriers that are identified.
What is the involvement of TMEA in the tripartite infrastructure conference being held in Kenya this week?
TradeMark East Africa is simply a facilitator from a financing point of view. The key players are the tripartite meaning SADC, COMESA, EAC and IGAD.
What is the conference seeking to achieve?
The objective is to bring together potential investors to see the opportunities that exist in infrastructure investment. What is going to be presented will be a series of infrastructure projects that are ready for investment. The objective therefore is to find a way in which the private sector might take advantage of the opportunity that is offered and invest in some of these infrastructure projects.
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