To improve trade in East Africa, the African Development Bank has launched a capacity development project in collaboration with the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the Secretariat of the East African Community (EAC).
To lower trade barriers and help the EAC fulfill its commitments under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, the $1.56 million EAC Trade Portal Enhancement Project will support digital trade solutions (link is external). It will deal with issues like inadequate market information, inadequate internet connectivity, inadequate capacity in trade information and ICT systems, and lack of transparency in trade and investment.
Supported by the Multilateral Cooperation Centre for Development Finance (MCDF), the two-year project aims to enhance trade portals across multiple countries.
Rachael Nsubuga, Senior Trade Facilitation Officer at the African Development Bank, outlined the programs the bank offers to lower trade barriers and promote both internal and external trade within and between African countries.
“This project will provide digital trade solutions and data to support investment climate and customs modernization work, complementing other African Development Bank programmes in the region,” said Nsubuga.
The project falls under the African Development Bank’s strategic priority of integrating Africa and its Regional Integration Strategic Paper (RISP 2023-2027) priorities.
The EAC Trade Portal Enhancement Project aims to improve digital trade information facilitation and customs modernization systems, enhancing intra-regional and extra-regional market information sharing. This pilot project will contribute to the EAC single window goal and increase trade with key partners like the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
According to Dr. Peter Matuki, the secretary general of the East African Community Secretariat, “The EAC is committed to trade transparency and partnerships in developing regional trade; enabling infrastructure coupled with capacity building can further bolster the region’s trade ecosystem for sustained socio-economic gains.”
According to the African Development Bank, with quantifiable online connectivity indicators connected to artificial intelligence tools that feed into other systems like customs and EAC’s non-tariff barriers monitoring system, the improved regional portal will be interactive and user-friendly. To offer real-time support on non-tariff trade barriers and the estimation of trade procedure costs, it will be integrated with national trade portals.
