President Kenyatta meets ACP-EU legislators

President Uhuru Kenyatta (PHOTO: Courtesy)

African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries should be accorded increased access to the European market, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday.

He said deals such as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) should recognise each country’s level of development so that no country felt disadvantaged.

Uhuru observed that ACP countries could only reap maximum benefit from EPAs if their individual levels of economic development were considered.

The President was speaking at State House Nairobi yesterday, when he met a delegation from ACP-EU. The delegation included ACP Parliamentary Assembly President Joseph Owona Kono and Michele Rivasi, a co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Uhuru said Kenya was pushing for Africa to forge a more integrated approach that would give the continent a stronger voice in its negotiations with organisations like the EU.

He pointed out that Africa should negotiate as a continent and not as a region, but cautioned against actions that undermined integration.

He said there was need to develop a flexible mechanism that would allowed member states that were ready to take up EPAs to do so even as others addressed their individual concerns.