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SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.

, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA ON OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE KENYA TRADENET SYSTEM AT SAFARI PARK HOTEL, NAIROBI ON 2ND MAY, 2014 Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Today marks a milestone in Kenyas history as we join the select league of ations that ha!e "ut in "lace an Electronic #ingle $indow #ystem to facilitate faster and e%cient trade facilitation and im"ro!e &usiness en!ironment' This launch also marks the &eginning of a new cha"ter towards a "a"erless cargo clearance "rocess' ( am, therefore, !ery "leased to &e associated with this e!ent of launching of the Kenya Electronic #ingle $indow #ystem, &etter known as the Kenya Trade et #ystem' The reali)ation of this im"ortant initiati!e will undou&tedly go a long way in transforming the way we conduct international trade transactions, not only in Kenya &ut also in the wider East *frican region' Ladies and Gentlemen, This launch would not ha!e &een "ossi&le without e+orts and commitment of the ,oard and -anagement of KE T.*DE' ( wish to at this "oint commend you for steering this young agency to reach thus far in achie!ing your mandate' E/ually ( commend all the Go!ernment *gencies that ha!e worked tirelessly with KE T.*DE to reali)e this dream and ( look forward to increased closer colla&oration in the im"lementation' *dditionally, ( would like to commend the ational Treasury for seeing to it that this 0roject is reali)ed, es"ecially in the middle of com"eting &udgetary needs' Your Excellencies, international trade logistics in!ol!es the su&mission of large !olumes of information and documents to Go!ernment authorities to com"ly with im"ort, ex"ort and transit1related regulatory re/uirements' This information and documentation often has to &e su&mitted through se!eral di+erent Go!ernment *gencies' (n most cases each of these *gencies has its own uni/ue #ystem which is either manual or automated' -ost of the documentation is also in "a"er form thus creating multi"le du"lications that lead to enormous wastage and high transaction costs' (n cogni)ance of these shortcomings countries are now em&racing the ational #ingle $indow #ystem for enhanced trade facilitation' ( am ha""y to note that our region has already commenced the im"lementation of the #ingle $indow #ystem conce"t in our indi!idual countries'

*fter the inter!entions we took last year,clearing cargo through the 0ort of -om&asa now takes an a!erage of 2 days while the same "rocess takes a&out 3 days at 4omo Kenyatta (nternational *ir"ort 54K(*6' *t the ,order 0osts, it takes an a!erage of 3 hours for cargo to cross o!er' $ith the electronic #ingle $indow #ystem in "lace we intend to "rogressi!ely reduce the cargo dwell time at the 0ort of -om&asa to a maximum of 7 days and at the 4K(* to one dayso as to signi8cantly ease the cost of doing &usiness in the region' Therefore, the full im"lementation of the Kenya Trade et #ystem will ha!e a major "ositi!e im"act on &usiness in the region' (t is, howe!er, instructi!e to note that the &ene8ts from this initiati!e may not &e fully reali)ed at the regional le!el unless all of us in the region ado"t ational #ingle $indow #ystems' ( am aware that our &rothers in .wanda are already im"lementing a #ingle $indow #ystem while similar e+orts are underway in Tan)ania and 9ganda' (n this regard the :a&inet #ecretaries and -inisters in charge of East *frican *+airs, working with their ational Treasury colleagues, should mo!e this agenda at the E*: le!el and encourage 0artner #tates to work together in the reali)ation of this conce"t' ;ur ultimate !ision should &e to im"lement an E*: .egional #ingle $indow "latform, which will integrate the ational #ingle $indow #ystems in E*: 0artner #tates' This will "ro!ide an e%cient "latform for data exchange among the res"ecti!e Go!ernment *gencies within the 0artner #tates for cargo &eing cleared through any of the "orts within the E*: .egion' * case in "oint is in *sia 0aci8c .egion where the *ssociation of #outh East *sian ations, &etter known as *#E* , has im"lemented a regional #ingle $indow #ystem that integrates the ational #ingle $indow #ystems of the *#E* -em&er #tates' *#E* nations Trade facilitation e+orts, including esta&lishment of ational #ingle $indow #ystems as well as the regional #ingle $indow #ystem ha!e ensured that these nations are at the "innacle of trade facilitation and economic de!elo"ment in the world' The East *frican region can learn a lot from the *#E* #ingle $indow #ystems (m"lementation ex"erience' Your Excellencies, as we mo!e to automate our trade "rocess, other o"erations of go!ernment should not &e left &ehind' (n Kenya, we are already "utting in "lace a Go!ernment 0ayment Gateway to ensure all "ayments to the Go!ernment &y citi)ens and &usiness can &e done electronically' This Gateway will integrate with the #ingle $indow "latform to facilitate an end1to1end electronic solution to &usiness logistics in Kenya' (n this regard, it will &e im"erati!e to automate the &usiness "rocesses of other key Go!ernment agencies to share information electronically'

(n addition, the &ene8ts of the #ingle $indow will only &e fully harnessed if we ha!e "ut in "lace the necessary su""orting infrastructure to ensure e%cient e!acuation and mo!ement of goods once they ha!e &een cleared at the "orts of entry' (, therefore, want to commend Your Excellencies for the commitment you ha!e demonstrated to ensure ex"editious com"letion of the regional infrastructure "rojects, including "utting in "lace a network of 8rst class roads linking Tan)ania, 9ganda, Ethio"ia and #outh #udan< the on1going #tandard Gauge .ailway from -om&asa to Kigali through 9ganda "roject< and our joint commitment to o"en a second trans"ort corridor under the Lamu 0ort1#outh #udan1Ethio"ia 5L*0##ET6' ( truly &elie!e that com"letion of these "rojects, together with the im"lementation of the #ingle $indow "latform, will make our region a world leader in terms of trade facilitation' $ith these few remarks, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, ( wish to once again thank all of you for taking time o+ your &usy schedules to join us on this aus"icious occasion' (t is now my "leasure to in!ite =is Excellency 0resident 0aul Kagame to o%cially launch the Kenya Trade et #ystem' Than !"# $%&! '#(h, an) 'a! G") *+%,, !"# a++.

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