simplemind
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- Apr 10, 2009
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Arusha — The East African leaders yesterday stressed that governments should be facilitators and not impediments to the smooth flow of business in the region.
"Governments have to facilitate trade growth and not block it," stressed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during the official launch of the project to upgrade of the Arusha-Holili road into a dual carriageway that will extend to Voi on the Kenyan side. He said despite the pumping millions of dollars by donors for the improvement of transport networks that would ease communication in the region, unnecessary restrictions by governments have proved to be a drawback.
The Kenyan leader said despite countless agreements made to remove the non-tariff barriers (NTBs), there were still many restrictions that hamper cross-border trade and movement of people, touching mostly the lower segment of the people.
"It looks like the governments are still obsessed with the out-dated laws of fortified boundaries. But the wananchi are trading among themselves," he told the huge gathering at Tengeru township along the Arusha-Moshi highway in the presence of President John Magufuli and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, among others. He said during a similar road launch event at Taveta on the Kenyan side of the border last October, half of the hundreds of people who attended were Tanzanians who are small-scale traders doing business in the larger Taveta inside Kenya.
President Uhuru, speaking in perfect Kiswahili, warned that unless the political leaders in East Africa discarded their isolationist notions, the region would continue to lag behind in cross-border trade and investment flows.
He equated East Africans to people who continue to sleep even when the sun is already up in the sky, and implored EAC governments to relax the laws and regulations on cross-border movement of people and goods for the benefit of ordinary citizens.
"Governments are sleeping while wananchi are trading amongst themselves," he said, stressing that heavy investments in major infrastructure projects such as the Arusha-Holili-Taveta-Voi highway were meant to facilitate the growth of trade and that it was the responsibility of the governments to be more facilitative.
Mr Kenyatta regretted that East Africans have been forced to be the leading importers of second-hand clothes and counterfeit products because there were no more functioning industries as was the case in the past, adding that with determination the region can be an exporter of manufactured goods to the developed countries.
President Museveni, casually dressed and clad in his trademark cowboy hat, stressed that with the admission of South Sudan in the East African Community (EAC), the bloc now has a population of around 150 million people which, he said, was a big market for locally produced goods and food. He emphasised that in order to fight and overcome poverty, the whole of East Africa has to be inter-linked with modern transport networks such as roads, railways, sea and air in order to take products to consumers and inputs to the producers.
He dismissed the notion that Africa was poor, arguing that the Continent and East African region in particular has abundant natural resources.
"There is no poverty in Africa but we lack development because we don't have the required tools and capital for development," he said, stressing that it was now time for the region to do replace subsistence farming with commercial agriculture "to ensure food security and income".
President Magufuli said East Africa has great potential for economic take off, citing the huge livestock population in Tanzania, 22 million being cattle alone. However, he said, with many industries closed or operating at low capacity the region has a high rate of unemployment among the youth.
For the Tanzanian case, the cost of doing business was high, one reason being too much reliance on the costly road transportation. He quoted recent statistics which indicate that 93 per cent of the cargo being transported through roads was due to the declining railways and dropping number of marine vessels.
During their 17th Ordinary Summit in Arusha on Wednesday, the EAC leaders directed the partner states to ensure that all imported second hand shoes and clothes comply with sanitary requirements and also to consider banning the export of raw hides and skins outside the EAC region.
It also directed the EAC partner states to procure their textile and footwear requirements from within the region where quality and supply capacities are available competitively. A comprehensive study to develop a regional action plan for the cotton, textile and apparel as well as leather and footwear sectors was suggested.
The heads of state further directed the EAC Council of Ministers to carry out a comprehensive study on modalities for the promotion of motor vehicles, leather and textile industries. The EAC Vision 2050 was launched and it aims to transform the region into an upper middle income region by 2050.
Speaking during the road upgrading launch, Mr Gabriel Negatu, the regional director of the African Development Bank (AfDB) which is financing the project, said the bank remains the leading financier of major infrastructure projects in East Africa. He added that negotiations were underway to seek money from development partners for the reconstruction of the 80km Tengeru-Moshi-Holili section of the highway.
"Governments have to facilitate trade growth and not block it," stressed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during the official launch of the project to upgrade of the Arusha-Holili road into a dual carriageway that will extend to Voi on the Kenyan side. He said despite the pumping millions of dollars by donors for the improvement of transport networks that would ease communication in the region, unnecessary restrictions by governments have proved to be a drawback.
The Kenyan leader said despite countless agreements made to remove the non-tariff barriers (NTBs), there were still many restrictions that hamper cross-border trade and movement of people, touching mostly the lower segment of the people.
"It looks like the governments are still obsessed with the out-dated laws of fortified boundaries. But the wananchi are trading among themselves," he told the huge gathering at Tengeru township along the Arusha-Moshi highway in the presence of President John Magufuli and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, among others. He said during a similar road launch event at Taveta on the Kenyan side of the border last October, half of the hundreds of people who attended were Tanzanians who are small-scale traders doing business in the larger Taveta inside Kenya.
President Uhuru, speaking in perfect Kiswahili, warned that unless the political leaders in East Africa discarded their isolationist notions, the region would continue to lag behind in cross-border trade and investment flows.
He equated East Africans to people who continue to sleep even when the sun is already up in the sky, and implored EAC governments to relax the laws and regulations on cross-border movement of people and goods for the benefit of ordinary citizens.
"Governments are sleeping while wananchi are trading amongst themselves," he said, stressing that heavy investments in major infrastructure projects such as the Arusha-Holili-Taveta-Voi highway were meant to facilitate the growth of trade and that it was the responsibility of the governments to be more facilitative.
Mr Kenyatta regretted that East Africans have been forced to be the leading importers of second-hand clothes and counterfeit products because there were no more functioning industries as was the case in the past, adding that with determination the region can be an exporter of manufactured goods to the developed countries.
President Museveni, casually dressed and clad in his trademark cowboy hat, stressed that with the admission of South Sudan in the East African Community (EAC), the bloc now has a population of around 150 million people which, he said, was a big market for locally produced goods and food. He emphasised that in order to fight and overcome poverty, the whole of East Africa has to be inter-linked with modern transport networks such as roads, railways, sea and air in order to take products to consumers and inputs to the producers.
He dismissed the notion that Africa was poor, arguing that the Continent and East African region in particular has abundant natural resources.
"There is no poverty in Africa but we lack development because we don't have the required tools and capital for development," he said, stressing that it was now time for the region to do replace subsistence farming with commercial agriculture "to ensure food security and income".
President Magufuli said East Africa has great potential for economic take off, citing the huge livestock population in Tanzania, 22 million being cattle alone. However, he said, with many industries closed or operating at low capacity the region has a high rate of unemployment among the youth.
For the Tanzanian case, the cost of doing business was high, one reason being too much reliance on the costly road transportation. He quoted recent statistics which indicate that 93 per cent of the cargo being transported through roads was due to the declining railways and dropping number of marine vessels.
During their 17th Ordinary Summit in Arusha on Wednesday, the EAC leaders directed the partner states to ensure that all imported second hand shoes and clothes comply with sanitary requirements and also to consider banning the export of raw hides and skins outside the EAC region.
It also directed the EAC partner states to procure their textile and footwear requirements from within the region where quality and supply capacities are available competitively. A comprehensive study to develop a regional action plan for the cotton, textile and apparel as well as leather and footwear sectors was suggested.
The heads of state further directed the EAC Council of Ministers to carry out a comprehensive study on modalities for the promotion of motor vehicles, leather and textile industries. The EAC Vision 2050 was launched and it aims to transform the region into an upper middle income region by 2050.
Speaking during the road upgrading launch, Mr Gabriel Negatu, the regional director of the African Development Bank (AfDB) which is financing the project, said the bank remains the leading financier of major infrastructure projects in East Africa. He added that negotiations were underway to seek money from development partners for the reconstruction of the 80km Tengeru-Moshi-Holili section of the highway.