Arusha — East African businesses will tomorrow engage key agencies to facilitate trade in Tanzania.
“The meeting aims at providing solutions to enhance business environment in Tanzania, hence increase intra-EAC trade,” said the East African Business Council (EABC) chief executive officer, Ms Lilian Awinja, said.
EABC, the East African Community Secretariat, Trademark East Africa and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation will host a public-private dialogue (PPD) with key trade facilitation agencies.
The forum will bring together stakeholders from public and the private sectors to discuss major developments as well as address key challenges facing entrepreneurs across the EAC in conducting trade in Tanzania.
Businesses will seeking an understanding of new developments with regard to the work of trade facilitation agencies and clarifications on issues affecting their businesses.
Specifically, the key objectives of the forum is to provide an opportunity to TBS officials to interact with the EAC business community on various requirements regarding compliance with standards in Tanzania. It will also offer an opportunity for TRA officials to discuss with business executives on various tax requirements and compliance, particularly those that are applied to goods from EAC.
The talks will also be a good platform for TPA to interact with the businesses on new developments at the Dar es Salaam Port and the progress towards making it a more efficient port in service to East Africans. TFDA officials are expected to clarify matters regarding the compliance with technical regulations for entry of food, drugs, cosmetics and other products into Tanzania.
Tanzania has been rated lowly in reports on ease of doing business.
The World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report for 2015 placed the country at No. 131 out of 189 countries. It revealed that Tanzania sank by one position compared with how it fared a year before.
The score areas and positions that put Tanzania at rank 131 out of 189 countries in 2015 included starting a business (124), dealing with construction permits (169), getting electricity (87), registering property (123), getting credit (151), protecting minority investors (141), paying taxes (148), trading across borders (137), enforcing contracts (45) and resolving insolvency (105).
According to the report, it takes about 26 days to start and run a business in Tanzania, which is a slight improvement compared with the average of 27.9 days in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Rwanda’s doing business 2015 rank was 46, up from position 48 in 2014. It took 6.5 days to start and run a business. Kenya’s doing business 2015 rank was 136 up from 137 in 2014.