Delegation from Gambia Maritime visits Ken Trade head office in Nairobi to benchmark

A foreign delegation from Gambia Maritime Administration visited KenTrade head office in Nairobi to benchmark with Kenya’s success with the Single Window System, the Trade Facilitation Platform that simplify trade and approval processes between international business community and the regulatory and permit issuing state agencies.

The delegation was led by the Deputy Director of Gambia Maritime Administration(GMA) Mr. Ousman Touray and was accompanied by officials from the Kenya Maritime Authority led by the Ports and Shipping Services Manager, Ms. Tumaini Namoye. 

It was received by KenTrade CEO Mr. Amos Wangora and senior managers including Director of Trade Mr David Ngarama and Acting Director of Strategy Compliance and Business Development Mr. Eric Lukoye.

The Gambia Maritime Administration is a government Agency whose mandate is focused on the development of the maritime industry. safety of navigation and the preservation or the marine environment in the Gambian waters. The Gambia recently gazetted a regulation which empowers the Administration to register and regulate maritime service providers. Kenya, among  African countries it has identified for a benchmarking study visit.

Mr. Touray and his delegation expressed satisfaction with the Kenya’s  Electronic Single Window System now upgraded into what is known as the Trade Facilitation Platform(TFP). “Gambia hopes to set up an integrated online solution for Ports and Customs procedures and consider Kenya’s success in this area as one of our inspirations,’’ he said.

KenTrade CEO, Mr Amos Wangora said Kenya’s success with the Electronic Single Window System in solving import and export trade challenges was majorly due to political goodwill from the Government of President Uhuru Kenyatta who was the Finance Minister when the Agency was established.

He said a vibrant trade facilitation would also require constant stakeholders’ engagement and effective change management program. “In Kenya, we set up the Change Agents Network forums on Business, IT and Legal which meets quarterly to address the emerging challenges,” said Mr. Wangora who is also the President of the Africa Alliance of E-Commerce(AAEC), the continental umbrella body for Single Window System compliant trade economies.

The benchmarking visit to KenTrade by Gambians comes at a time when KenTrade is preparing to host the international Summit on e-commerce as part of its 10 years celebrations. KenTrade is the  founder member and current President of AAEC.