NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya on Thursday became the first East Africa trade economy and latest in Africa after Malawi to launch a Trade Information Portal which it hopes to link investors to trade opportunities and fix obstacles that impact on its ease of doing business.
The Kenya Trade Information Portal kenyatradeportal.org is developed and managed by Kenya TradeNet Work Agency(KenTrade), a state agency under the National Treasury, through technical support from UNCTAD and funding from the TradeMark East Africa(TMEA).
It was launched at Kenyatta International Convention Centre during the Mainstreaming Trade Facilitation for Regional Integration session officiated by UNCTAD’s Chief of Trade Facilitation Mr. Jan Hoffman and KenTrade Acting CEO Mr. Amos Wangora.
The portal will provide traders with all access to trade-related regulatory information in order to enhance transparency and accountability and reduce time traders of all levels and sizes have been spending to get proper documentation, various forms of trade information including commercial laws and regulations governing import, export and transit of commercial goods, procedures and requirements for processing licenses and various permits, and the samples of these application forms that can be downloaded.
Kenya Trade Portal contains information on which goods are prohibited, restricted, and other non-tariff measures; the entire catalogue of applicable tariffs linked to commodity classification is also available. Procedures and requirements for processing licenses and various permits and samples of application forms will be downloaded on the website.
Traders will be able to access legal requirements supposed to meet when importing or exporting respective goods and alert traders on duties, fees and exemptions that are applicable to their commodities. Once live the portal will also result to an improved ease of doing business due to reduced trading time and cost.
“Our aim is to make trade transactions in Kenya more it easier, faster and more convenient for import and export traders and thereby, improved ease of doing business due to reduced trading time and cost,” he added. “We will document step by step key import, export and transit procedures at the main port and airport facilities, with contact information on enquiry points and access to forms and other documents required, thereby saving on time and cost of doing business,” said Mr. Wangora
The greatest beneficiary would be traders who intend to import or export cargo to from Kenya. Institutions involved in regulating trade will have a tool at their disposal providing them with up to date information on administrative formalities as perceived by the user thereby supporting their efforts to analyze and simplify trade related procedures. In Southern Africa trading block, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi are among the economies that have launched Trade Portal this year.
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