Crunch time for East Africa, EU trade talks

By  WINSLEY MASESE

East African Map

East African Community (EAC) and European Union (EU) return to the negotiating table mid May in an effort to thrash out some of the contentious issues holding back better trade agreements between the two blocs.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said the meeting seeks to deliberate on the remaining three contentious issues delaying final deal on new Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

He said the issues which have delayed signing of an economic partnership deal between the two have been whittled down from nine.

“On agriculture, the EAC is saying that agricultural products where subsidies are provided should not find cheap market access,” he said.

If allowed into the region duty free to access the markets, Kibicho said they could negatively impact farmers. The other contentious issue is the EAC’s use of taxes to discourage export of raw materials. “This is a deliberate effort to encourage value addition of our commodities before they are exported,” he said.

 The EU and EAC are also yet to agree on the inclusion of no- trade issues on the trade negotiations. “The EAC’s position is that the EPA’s should only concentrate on trade issues. We are not happy with the introduction of a non-trade issue in a trade agreement,” he said.

The EU is proposing to include agreements on human rights and corruption and other issues on the trade pact.

“We feel that these issues are already being dealt with other channels and international conventions,” he argued.

The economic partnership agreements  are aimed at boosting access of the region’s exports to the EU markets as a key ingredient to eradicating poverty in the region.

If concluded, the agreement will enable the region benefit from a wider market without restrictions as witnessed currently.

Employment opportunity

It will also benefit from foreign exchange earnings, employment opportunities and penetration to the European Union market through the support of the EPAs.

Kenya for example has enjoyed preferential access to the EU markets for about three decades through four successive Lome Conventions. These are some of the deliberate efforts made towards improving Kenya’s trade volumes into the bloc.

 About two decades ago, the European Union used to buy about 50 per cent of the Kenyan goods. However, that has shrunk to about 20 per cent due to the emergence of other trading partners such as China.