KENTRADE has formulated its fourth Strategic Plan to accommodate emerging technology and business models. The Strategic Plan builds on the earlier plans and outlines the policies, programs, and projects that the Agency will implement during the period 2023/24 – 2027/28, the agency, which runs the National Electronic Single Window System (NESWS) said in its latest and 3rd edition of the e-newsletter.
“The Plan is largely informed by Kenya’s Vision 2030, the Kenya Kwanza Manifesto, Trade Policies, Performance Contract guidelines, and our experience,” it reads in part.
The Strategic Plan, according to KenTrade, adopted views from stakeholders to come up with an all-inclusive document. The draft was taken through a rigorous review by KenTrade’s Board, management, and all staff before being shared with stakeholders for validation.
Under the new strategic plan, the Agency proposes to review the current vision to read “A global leader in trade facilitation” while the mission is proposed to remain as “Facilitate trade by simplifying, harmonizing and automating business processes through effective and efficient management of the National Electronic Single Window System and provision of related services for Kenya’s global competitiveness.”
The draft Strategic Plan establishes three primary themes namely improved trade environment and ease of doing business, financial sustainability, visibility and organizational strengthening, and customer service with solutions development and management.
“To attain these themes, KenTrade will emphasize the blue economy to ensure effective participation in the implementation of regional or international frameworks and standards for sustainable use of aquatic and marine spaces including oceans, seas, coasts, lakes, rivers and underground water,” the newsletter reads.
Alongside its core mandate, KenTrade has overseen the roll-out of other trade facilitation tools that have eased global transactions for Kenyan traders. In 2017, KenTrade launched the Information for Trade in Kenya (InfoTradeKenya) portal.
The development of this platform was in response to a gap identified in cargo clearance information among the trading community and the need to merge all the procedures into a single portal accessible to all those involved in International Trade as prescribed by Article 1.2 WTO Trade Facilitation.
The portal is an online platform that provides comprehensive, single-point access to up-to-date trade-related information. It provides a step-by-step guide for imports, exports and transit trade procedures to assist traders to make informed choices.
Another significant milestone KenTrade has made is the launch of the Kenya Maritime Single Window System. This was a joint project with the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) on the implementation of the FAL Convention.
This is a requirement for national governments to introduce electronic information exchange between ships and ports, which came into effect on 8 April 2019. Actors aimed at making cross-border trade simpler and the logistics chain more efficient for the over 10 billion tons of goods traded by sea annually across the globe.
KenTrade was last year firmly anchored into law following the signing of the National Electronic Single Window System (National Assembly Bill No. 15 of 2021) by the former President of the Republic of Kenya H.E Uhuru Kenyatta on June 21, 2022.
The latest project that KenTrade carried out is the Ksh90 million Business Intelligence (BI) Tool. The tool seeks to collect extensive data on Kenya’s import and export trade.
The new BI Tool will analyze and disseminate data in real-time to trade facilitators and government agencies aimed at making better data-driven decisions. The BI tool helps to facilitate ease of trade in Kenya through extraction and analysis of real-time data to help trade facilitators and government agencies make data-driven decisions.
This will support better visibility of Mombasa Port, and the Northern Corridor Community Charter for improved decision-making and efficiency. The system will address the challenge of limitations of report generation features on the TradeNet System.
KenTrade’s new Business Intelligence (BI) Tool released its first import and export report recently, which showed that Kenya’s export earnings for 2021 went up by 17 percent to Sh666.7 billion compared to Sh567.4 billion in 2020 because of the strengthening of the dollar.
This article was published by an editorial consultant and can be reached via githua.kihara@gmail.com
