05/08/2026
The 3-day East African Community (EAC) Regional Peer Learning Workshop on Cross-border Paperless Trade concludes in Kigali with a shared commitment to accelerate East Africa's journey towards seamless, technology-enabled trade.
Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations - Feaffa was pleased to participate alongside policymakers, customs administrations, trade facilitation agencies, development partners, and private sector stakeholders in discussions on the future of paperless trade in the region.
We extend our sincere appreciation to the International Trade Centre (ITC) for convening this timely engagement. The workshop provided an important platform for peer learning, knowledge exchange, and collaboration on advancing regional integration through paperless trade.
One of our key takeaways was the remarkable progress Partner States have made in digitizing trade through National Single Window systems, customs automation, electronic certificates, digital payments, and other trade facilitation initiatives. Equally encouraging is the work being led by the EAC Secretariat to strengthen regional interoperability and implement strategies that support a connected digital trade ecosystem.
At the same time, the discussions highlighted opportunities that must be addressed to realize truly seamless cross-border paperless trade. For the logistics sector, this means developing resilient systems with fallback mechanisms to minimize downtime, standardized APIs that enable integration between public and private sector platforms, and governance frameworks that promote accountability across all stakeholders.
Another important observation was the limited availability of reliable data on e-commerce across the region. As digital trade continues to grow, better market intelligence will be essential for informed decision-making and policy development. FEAFFA looks forward to working with partners to contribute to this important area.
Paperless trade is more than a digital transformation. It is an opportunity to reduce trade costs, speed up cargo movement, improve transparency, and strengthen East Africa's competitiveness in regional and global trade.
FEAFFA remains committed to championing practical digital trade solutions that benefit the freight forwarding and logistics industry while advancing regional integration.
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