The
agreement will advance common goals of increasing trade within East
Africa by reducing the time and cost of transiting and transporting
goods. The partnership will also support East African Community (EAC)
regional integration. Through Trade Africa, TMEA will broaden its
regional integration program at the Ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam
and key border posts along the Northern and Central Corridors, and will
work with EAC Member States to remove barriers
to trade.
The agreement was signed by
USAID’s Associate Administrator, Mark Feierstein
and Frank Matsaert, CEO of TMEA, and witnessed by the Kenya Ports Authority
General Manager Engineering Services, Eng. Joseph Atonga on behalf of the Managing Director,
Mr. Gichiri Ndua, Earl Gast, USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa,
Andrew Herscowitz, Coordinator of the Power Africa and Trade Africa Initiatives, and the Assistant
U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Florizelle Liser.
TradeMark
East Africa is a company limited by guarantee (with offices in all East
African countries, as well as Juba, South Sudan) that provides technical
and monetary support to the EAC Secretariat, national governments,
private sector and
civil society to improve the ease of trading in East Africa through an
emphasis on streamlining port, transit, customs and border operations in
order to enhance trade. It has been supported largely by European
bilateral donors and works to promote rapid advances
in East Africa’s economic integration, trade and global competitiveness
for all East Africans.
“In July,
2013, President Obama announced the United States Trade Africa
Initiative, a new partnership between the United States and sub-Saharan
Africa that seeks to increase internal and regional trade within the
East African Community,
and expand trade and economic ties between Africa, the United States,
and other global markets. The agreement signed today will unite donor
efforts across the region to support the East African Community and its
Member States to implement the shared vision
of a prosperous, growing East Africa,” said Feierstein.
TradeMark
CEO Frank Matsaert noted that trade infrastructure is critical to East
Africa’s prosperity, and in creating much needed employment in the
region. Currently East Africa’s trade corridors are characterized by
long transit times and
high costs. Freight costs per kilometer are more than 50% higher than
costs in the United States and Europe, and for the landlocked countries,
transport costs can be as high as 45% of the value of exports.
“The U.S.
Government is an important partner in promoting regional and economic
integration in East Africa. TradeMark East Africa will continue to focus
its efforts on increasing trade and prosperity in East Africa,
primarily through investments
that have the biggest benefit for East Africa’s people and the private
sector. Facilitating regional trade is an effective means to alleviate
poverty. This investment supports those projects that provide the
catalyst needed to bring prosperity to the region,”
said Matsaert.
Trade Africa will assist TMEA to address
economic growth constraints by promoting intra-regional exports, as
well as enabling exports to new markets including the U.S. Reducing the
barriers to cross-border trade can result in:
•
a 15 percent reduction in average time to import or export a container from Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to Burundi and Rwanda; and,
•
a 30 percent decrease in the average time a truck takes to cross selected borders.
“By
reducing the time and costs of moving goods and services across
borders, Trade Africa will both support greater intra-regional trade
within
the East African Community and support greater U.S.-EAC trade and
investment, including under the African Growth and Opportunity Act,”
said Liser.
Feierstein and Gast are in Kenya this week to evaluate the progress of President Obama’s
initiatives toward fostering public-private partnerships to address U.S. and Kenya’s
shared development objectives.
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