African leaders called upon to tackle non-tariff barriers at Global Logistics Convention

African states have been urged to embrace the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) Agreement in a bid to enhance commercial activities.

This was during the 4th Global Logistics Convention that was held in  Nairobi on Wednesday for two days. 

The agreement aims to accelerate intra-African trade and boost Africa's trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa's common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations. 

The 4th Global Logistics Convention was aimed at ending the numerous non-tariff barriers and bottlenecks affecting the supply chain in Africa. 'Connecting Continents: Strengthening Global Supply Chains' was the theme.

The convention highlighted how different players are harnessing the opportunities under the AfCTA. 

It also highlighted how the logistics sector is embracing technology and the role of  Transport and Logistics Service Providers in promoting Green Logistics.

Freight Logix Kenya Managing Director George Kidenda said in an effort to increase free trade within the continent, in the next 10 years, African governments aim to reduce up to 97 per cent of the tariffs to zero thus enabling different players to enter and trade in new markets.

“We need proper infrastructure and free movement of cargo to effect this. Most of our roads do not cross effectively into other countries in Africa. Our airlines do not have free landing rights. We need to come together to improve intra-Africa trade,” Kidenda said. 

Kidenda noted that African leaders now target to have a free trade area by 2063. 

He called for proper infrastructure to make the free trade area a success. 

He said roads and rail links should be constructed to cross into other African countries. 

"The challenge we face in Africa is that there is no network connectivity," Kidenda said. 

KQ Head of Cargo Commercial Peter Musola speaking at the convention emphasised the need for liberalization of trade in Africa. 

“One of the major challenges in Africa is the issue of uni-directional demand. Flights or sea freight vessels will go one direction full and they come back empty and this has the effect of increasing the unit price. All the elements of the liberalization of trade will stimulate trade within the continent and the more we have bidirectional movement of cargo, the prices will naturally come down,” Musola said. 

According to the 2021 report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 90 per cent of freight cargo in Africa is handled by international cargo airlines, leaving only 10 per cent to local airlines.

Inland Africa Logistics Managing Director Roy Mwanthi said the new policies in terms of taxation in Kenya have slowed down the importations into the country. 

"We have seen a slight drop in cargo importation. But we are confident in the next few months it will pick up and importation levels will return to where they were," Mwanthi said. 

He said importation is affected by the entire logistics chain which he said ought to be cheap to encourage the movement of goods. 

"If we work together as logistics suppliers and make the cost of importation cheaper for Kenya and for East Africa then we have done our part," he said.

Mwanthi noted that this is the first-ever logistics conference held by Kenya  International Freight and Warehousing Associations in Kenya. 

The Global Logistics Convention is an annual freight logistics event of the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA).

The Convention was held successfully first in Tanzania in the year 2017, in Kampala, Uganda in 2018, and in Kigali, Rwanda in 2019.

This year the summit was organised and hosted by the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (KIFWA) and FEAFFA in partnership with various Kenya Government agencies and other Private Sector organisations.