EPA to on the agenda at EAC summit in Kampala.

[inchoka]

EPAs top on the agenda at EAC summit in Kampala
Other issues to be discussed include non-tariff barriers and infrastructure projects.

Kenyan roses on sale on Valentine’s Day 2018 in Nairobi. The European Union is the country’s largest market for horticultural produce such as cut flowers. PHOTO | AFP

By JAMES ANYANZWA


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IN SUMMARY

• 
  
  
  • Discussions on the signing of the EPA with the European Union tops the agenda of the Heads of State summit that starts on February 23.
  • EAC presidents to be briefed on the outcome of the meeting he held with the European Commission last year on the impact of the EPA on regional economies.
  • Other issues to be discussed include non-tariff barriers and infrastructure projects.

The East African Community heads of state will this week meet in Kampala with hopes of agreeing on a common position to revitalise the bloc’s trade with Europe, which has been unsettled after some member states refused to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

The EastAfrican has learnt that discussions on the signing of the EPA with the European Union tops the agenda of the Heads of State summit that starts on February 23.

Implementation of the agreement, which gives products from the EAC member states duty-and-quota free access to the European market, has been delayed by more than a year after Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi declined to approve the pact, citing economic and national interests.

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At the meeting, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is the current chair of the summit, will brief his counterparts on the outcome of the meeting he held with the European Commission last year on the impact of the EPA on regional economies.

Currently, Europe is East Africa’s largest export destination; in imports, the EU ranks third after China and India.

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Other issues to be discussed by the leaders are intra-EAC trade, which is on the decline, non-tariff barriers, the status of Northern Corridor infrastructure projects such as the standard gauge railway, development of a crude oil pipeline and oil refinery, the commodities exchange, and the membership of war-ravaged South Sudan to the EAC.

Also likely to be up for deliberation is the disputed election of the speaker of the fourth East African Legislative Assembly.

“The issue of EPAs will be discussed with a view of bringing everybody on board,” Adan Mohamed, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade and Co-operative, toldThe EastAfrican last week.

Common position?

Negotiations for the EPAs were successfully concluded on October 16, 2014, and all EU member individual states as well as the bloc signed the Agreement.

Though Kenya and Rwanda signed the agreement on September 1, 2016, the pact requires the signatures of all EAC members. Negotiations of the trade deal began in 2002.

The deadline for the EPA signing had originally been set for October 1, 2016, but the Summit, then chaired by Tanzanian President John Magufuli, asked for more time to study the implications on its manufacturers. According to the European Commission, the heads of state of are expected to iron out their differences at the summit and reach a common position on the trade pact.

“The next EAC Summit will discuss the way forward for the EPA,” EAC said in its January report.

Failure by the heads of state to agree on the signing of the agreement could lead to the consideration of a proposal for the EAC Common Market principle of variable geometry. The principle will allow member states to sign the agreement at their own convenience even after the pact takes effect.

Tanzania said it would not sign the agreement claiming that the move is tantamount to killing the growth of its infant industries

Die hards still hoping TZ to change mind

 

[kirk git]

In this case the gun was pointed at Kenya – more specifically, its cut flowers industry. The flower business is a lucrative one, worth more than €10bn (£7.7bn) worldwide every year, and Kenya is one of the world’s largest exporters of cut stems. So it was a crushing blow when Europe imposed tariffs on Kenya’s cut flowers in October last year, potentially making their blooms significantly more expensive than those grown on European soil. Rather than risk losing trade to other suppliers, Kenyan flower companies absorbed the duties. In the three months they were in place, the Kenya Flower Council estimates that its exporters racked up costs of about €3m (£2.3m).

Kenya was being punished for failing to sign a new trade agreement. As the cut flower industry started to feel the pain, Nairobi snapped and signed on the dotted line. The EU removed the duties on Christmas Day, meaning Kenya’s flower exporters have a clean run up to Valentine’s Day. Lodewijk Briet, the EU’s ambassador to Kenya, said in a statement that the EU had “fast-tracked” approval of the deal and called it a “Christmas gift for Kenyan exporters”.
EU trade agreements threaten to crush Kenya’s blooming flower trade

 

[Jay456watt]

kuna deal ambayo Kenya na Rwanda watapiga saini na EU incase Ug na Tz wakatae ku sign EPA....hivyo there is nothing at stake....sasa hivi mambo ya SGR, terrorism na South Sudan membership are more important

 

[Mwanzi1]

In this case the gun was pointed at Kenya – more specifically, its cut flowers industry. The flower business is a lucrative one, worth more than €10bn (£7.7bn) worldwide every year, and Kenya is one of the world’s largest exporters of cut stems. So it was a crushing blow when Europe imposed tariffs on Kenya’s cut flowers in October last year, potentially making their blooms significantly more expensive than those grown on European soil. Rather than risk losing trade to other suppliers, Kenyan flower companies absorbed the duties. In the three months they were in place, the Kenya Flower Council estimates that its exporters racked up costs of about €3m (£2.3m).

Kenya was being punished for failing to sign a new trade agreement. As the cut flower industry started to feel the pain, Nairobi snapped and signed on the dotted line. The EU removed the duties on Christmas Day, meaning Kenya’s flower exporters have a clean run up to Valentine’s Day. Lodewijk Briet, the EU’s ambassador to Kenya, said in a statement that the EU had “fast-tracked” approval of the deal and called it a “Christmas gift for Kenyan exporters”.
EU trade agreements threaten to crush Kenya’s blooming flower trade

The short term approval wont work in the long run, the Christmas gift was more important to EU than to Kenya. Remember EPA was designed to benefit EU rather than EAC, Kenya alone won't serve the purpose for EPA because EU is more interested with EAC market as whole rather than individual countries.

 

[joto la jiwe]

kuna deal ambayo Kenya na Rwanda watapiga saini na EU incase Ug na Tz wakatae ku sign EPA....hivyo there is nothing at stake....sasa hivi mambo ya SGR, terrorism na South Sudan membership are more important

I support you, every country should have its way, there is no need of collective decision when we deal with issues related to interests of individual countries, lets stop yapping to each other please.

 

[ArD67]

kuna deal ambayo Kenya na Rwanda watapiga saini na EU incase Ug na Tz wakatae ku sign EPA....hivyo there is nothing at stake....sasa hivi mambo ya SGR, terrorism na South Sudan membership are more important

Lakini kwa dhati ya kweli kabisa, wewe unaonaje, ni sawa kusaini mkataba wa EPA kwakuwa tu tuna "maua" tunawauzia? Maua tu? Hii nayo ni reliable business kweli? Isije ikawa hata hayo maua wanayanunua strategically ili msaini doc. yao tu, kisha wataanza kuyazalisha yakutosha makwao.

Akili za wale watu anazijua mchina tu, wengine sisi wala tusijiingize ktk mitego yao. Hatuna vya kuwauzia vyenye thamani na watakavyo vi dump kwetu, na tutakavyo vipeleka makwao ni raw materials tu wakati vyao kwetu vitakuwa processed.

 

[Mkikuyu- Akili timamu]

Kenya Inataka Mkataba wa Kijumla kama EAC kwa sababu trade tarriff za EU for Middle income countries ziko Juu sana. Jubilee serikali tapeli ilipika takwimu za uchumi ikawekwa kwa middle income, hii yote ni kuwezesha kenya kupewa mikopo mikubwa sababu wao sasa ni "developing middle income". Sasa ona ujinga wao, soko la EU ndilo lina pesa nyingi sana ila taxes kwa maua chai na kahawa ipo Juu sana mpaka mkulima hapati faida. Mashamba ya maua yamefungwa, wakulima wana kata miti ya kahawa na chai.
Kila siku naona Wajinga wakenya wakitukana TZ eti ni LDC..Hivi hawajui kuna advantages kwa trading kama nchi ni LDC? Ethiopia wameshaa piku kenya kwa cut flower trade na wao wana taka kubaki LDC .
Jinga sana Jubilee..Wa TZ msiitikie kutumiwa kama Condom ili kenya iweze kuingia Soko la EU na tarrif za chini, wacha wao Middle income wasikie makali ya kujipea sifa za kijinga