Reduced costs of transport play a critical role in the competitiveness of an economy, greatly affecting its performance. The freight sector, in particular, is universally recognized as one of the core pillars of economic development and a key factor for regional integration. Aware of this, the EAC region places the improvement of trade logistics through enhancing trade facilitation measures at the center of its regional integration agenda. A new policy brief from the East Africa Business Council (EABC) shows the improvement in the logistics performance in the region as a result of a decline in tariffs and removal of trade barriers, but at the same time describes the challenges that still persist in particular on the Northern and Central Corridors and how the COVID-19 global pandemic affected performances of the Mombasa and the Dar es Salaam ports as originating points of such two corridors.

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Trade information portals (TIPs) are electronic platforms that guide businesses in cross-border trade by offering them a one-stop-shop with comprehensive information on procedural steps needed in order to complete an import, export and transit operation and the relevant regulation. Offering a free access to regulations and procedures to be followed in order to complete an international trade transaction with a single, clear and unequivocal description of steps that traders need to put in place, responds to a principle of administrative transparency: the simpler is to understand rules, procedures and formalities related to international trade operations, the easier will be for traders to engage in them.

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