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COMESA TRANSPORT SERVICES EXPERIENCE: POLICY AND STRATEGY
Presentation by
Emily Mburu
Trade in Services and Trade Facilitation Coordinator
COMESA Secretariat
CONTEXT Introduction COMESA Trade in Services (TIS) Programme COMESA Negotiations on Trade in Services COMESA work on Transport Services Trade and Transit Facilitation Transport sub-sectors
Air Transport Road Transport Rail Transport Maritime Inland Water Transport
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
At the initial stages the COMESA liberalization process concentrated on goods;
Transport and financial services were the early sectors for regional cooperation to facilitate the movement of goods
In the late 1990s COMESA included Trade in services as part of the integration programme and formed a working group on Trade in services
TRADE IN SERVICES IN COMESA Trade in services in COMESA rose from $24.2
billion in 1997 to US$51.4 billion in 2007 Services contribute at least 40% of GDP in most
COMESA Member States The objectives of the trade in services
programme are:Eliminating barriers to trade in services to
promote growth and developmentEnhance cooperation among Member
States to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the markets
To increase, improve and develop the exports of services
Liberalize trade in services
FORUM FOR NEGOTIATING TRADE IN SERVICES
The Framework for liberalizing trade in services in COMESA was developed and adopted by Council in June 2009 The Regulations on Trade in services Annex on the temporary movement of persons
The Regulations on Trade in Services provided for the formation of the Committee on Trade in Services
COMMITTEE ON TRADE IN SERVICES The first meeting of the Committee was held
in September 2009 Services negotiating guidelines developed They provide for seven (7) priority sectors,
namely business, communication, construction, energy, financial, tourism and tourism
At the second meeting in May 2010 Member States agreed to commence
negotiations in four priority sectors, namely communication, financial, tourism and transport
The other three sectors are to be included once schedules of commitments are done in the four priority sectors
COMMITTEE ON TRADE IN SERVICES
Held in September 2009
Services negotiating guidelines developed
Provides for seven (7) priority sectors, namely business, communication, construction, energy, financial, tourism and tourism
Held in May 2010 MS agreed to
commence negotiations in four priority sectors, namely communication, financial, tourism and transport
The other three sectors are to be included at a later stage
First Meeting Second Meeting
COMMITTEE ON TRADE IN SERVICES (CONT)
Held in May 2011 Member States
initiated the process of exchange of information based on their draft schedules of commitments
Member States agreed to finalize their schedules of commitments
Held in July 2012 10 Member States
have submitted their schedules of specific commitments in the four priority sectors
MS with submissions discussed the schedules and made requests to each other
Third Meeting Fourth Meeting
WORK UNDER THE TIS PROGRAMME To deal with specificities of each sector/sub-
sector, the TIS programme works in collaboration with other COMESA programmes that deal with specific services’ sectors, such as Insurance (Yellow card) ICT Transport etc
The objectives are to: Bring together relevant stakeholders in a specific
sector to identify the issues of interest to them in the sector
Enhance cross border trade and investment by eliminating barriers to trade in the specific sector
Work on harmonization of laws and regulations in the specific sector
COMESA WORK PROGRAMME ON TRANSPORT An efficient transport sector is an integral
element for development and facilitation of trade
COMESA has developed two documents A Regional Transport Policy A Regional Transport Strategy
The documents were adopted by Ministers of Infrastructure in July 2011
These are to be used by MS in formulating national policies and strategies from a regional trade development and integration perspective
The strategy mentions the need for regional transport operators forming alliances to obtain economies of scale
TRADE AND TRANSIT TRANSPORT FACILITATION
COMESA has developed a number of instruments to facilitate trade and transport and reduce the cost of doing business
Among the issues addressed are lack of harmonization in policy, regulations, administrative and procedural regimes
The sub-sectors taken into consideration are: Air transport Road transport Rail transport Maritime transport Inland water transport
AIR TRANSPORT The liberalization program is based on the
Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) adopted by the AU in 1999 and ratified in 2000
Implementation is through Legal Notice No. 2 which are the Regulations for the Liberalization of Air Transport in the COMESA region
16 MS are implementing Phase 1 of Legal Notice No.2, the exceptions are: Libya, Madagascar and Swaziland
11 MS are granting the fifth freedom rights to COMESA air carriers, namely Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
AIR TRANSPORT (CONT)
COMESA-EAC-SADC JOINT COMPETITION AUTHORITY (JCA)
Joint Competition Regulations and the Guidelines, Rules and Procedure for implementation of competition in air transport adopted by the 3 RECs
Established to supervise the activities of the airlines and operators in a liberalized market
The JCA comprises of seven members two from each REC and a rotating Chairperson for the RECs
Presently the members are: Burundi and Uganda (EAC), South Africa and Zimbabwe (SADC), and Malawi and Sudan (COMESA). Kenya is Chairing on behalf of COMESA
SADC Secretariat is providing secretariat services
Mandate Membership
ROAD TRANSPORT Road transport is the primary mode of transport for
goods and passengers in the COMESA region Road Sector Management and Funding Reforms
have been undertaken by MS to manage and maintain the road infrastructure assets
Most MS have set up road funds and development agencies
These agencies are responsible for construction and maintenance of road infrastructure nationally
The main source of funds are fuel levy for maintenance
Construction and rehabilitation is through government budget allocations, borrowing from development banks and cooperating partners
RAIL TRANSPORT The share of cargo by rail has declined
drastically in the COMESA region in the past three decades
Options adopted to improve performance of the sector include: concessions of railways restructuring of management closure of branch lines in some countries
Concessions have been done in 4 countries namely, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda
Though no significant improvements in overall efficiency of the sub-sector
New railway development projects are underway in the region
MARITIME TRANSPORT Main challenge in the region is port
congestion Measures adopted to reduce congestion in
the port of Mombasa include Kenya Ports Authority and the Kenya Revenue
Authority designated private local container terminals to accept cargo discharged directly from ships prior to payments of charges and customs dues
Regulatory checks and payments are now done at the private container terminals
Privatization of some services at the port is creating room for private sector participation and increasing investments at the ports
INLAND WATER TRANSPORT
Not much so far has been done in this subsector in the COMESA region
MS have agreed to prioritize the preparation of standards and regulations to enhance safety of navigation
MS sharing common water bodies are to enter into multilateral agreements to develop harmonized management of the resources
CONCLUSION
Develop national and regional strategies for dealing effectively with transport services as they are vital for economic development
Expand trade and investment opportunities and cooperative arrangements, especially under the Tripartite for economies of scale as well as to diversify markets and take advantage of trading opportunities
For COMESA, most work now under the infrastructural development is being undertaken at the Tripartite level
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION