Thursday 29th August 2024 Kampala, Uganda: – Officiating the East African Community (EAC) – East African Business Council (EABC) Technical Working Group Meeting, EAC Deputy Secretary-General for Customs, Trade, and Monetary Affairs, Annette Mutaawe Ssemuwemba, urged private sector associations to develop joint calls to action to be presented to governments in an effort to boost intra-EAC trade and investments.
She commended EAC Secretary General H.E. Veronica Nduva for committing to hold discussions with the private sector at the country level and for engaging the EAC Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs on pending trade and investment legal instruments. The EAC Deputy Secretary-General further tasked the Technical Working Group to synthesize and analyze the advocacy priorities to inform the EAC policy decision-making organs, from technical to Heads of State level.
In his remarks, Mr. Rwabwogo Businge, EABC Board Member, commended the EAC-EABC Technical Working Group for developing the regional private sector policy advocacy priorities and a roadmap to address issues such as non-tariff barriers affecting intra-EAC trade.
Mr. Adrian Njau, Acting Executive Director of EABC, urged governments to fully implement the commitments of the EAC Customs Union and Common Market to allow businesses to flourish in the region. He also called upon national private sector associations to present regional issues during public-private dialogues (PPDs) at the national level, emphasizing that regional integration is actually implemented at the national level.
Mr. Martin Maku, representing the Executive Director of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), stated that the EAC-EABC Technical Working Group has been instrumental in addressing Uganda’s concerns regarding access to regional markets, such as NTBs, domestic taxes, and the Common External Tariff (CET).
The joining of Burundi and Tanzania into the One Network Area for telecommunications is one of the key achievements of the EAC-EABC Technical Working Group. The One Network Area has eliminated roaming charges for telecommunications, reducing the cost of doing cross-border business.
On his part, Mr. Lamech Wesonga, Economic Policy Advisor on AfCFTA for EAC-GIZ, reiterated GIZ’s commitment to work with the government and private sector to ensure policy issues are addressed to remove barriers to regional integration at both the EAC and continental levels. He explained that for proposals to be adopted and implemented, research, analysis, and stakeholder engagement are crucial.
Key issues of discussion by the Technical Working Group include: Non-Tariff Barriers, discriminatory taxes, Rules of Origin, illicit trade, anti-money laundering, EAC trade remedies, the EAC Single Tourist Visa, Duty Remission & Common External Tariff, standards and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, liberalization of trade in services, mutual recognition of professionals, free movement of workers, liberalization of air transport services, continental and international trade agreements, transport and logistics, cross-border investments, infrastructure development, and the implementation of EAC commitments by the Republic of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Intra-EAC trade grew at 14% in 2023 recording USD 12.2 billion value of trade. In the same year the export of EAC to the Rest of the World was at record of USD 26.9 billion compared to USD 25 billion recorded in 2022 while export to Africa was USD 9.7 billion; and imports from Africa grew to USD 9.7 billion in 2022 up from USD 7.9 billion in 2023
The EAC-EABC Technical Working Group (TWG) Meeting convened representatives from National Private Sector Associations in Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda to analyze and review trade policy issues and craft action plans in a bid to increase intra and extra EAC trade and investments. The EAC-EABC Technical Working Group is co-chaired by EABC Executive Director and EAC Deputy Secretary-General: Customs, Trade, and Monetary Affairs.
