This archive report was first published on 24 November 2019.
On November 28-29, the East African Business Council (EABC) will hold a high-level meeting to discuss regional integration and trade, under the theme 'Private sector-driven regional integration for increased intra-EAC trade and investments.'
The meeting, which was initially scheduled to take place ahead of the cancelled EAC Heads of State Summit, will focus on key issues affecting the region's trade and investment, including the implementation of the One Regional Air Space directive, review of the Common External Tariff, and ratification of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards Protocol.
According to Dennis Karera, the vice chairman of EABC, the region is currently grappling with protectionist tendencies, delays in the harmonisation and domestication of EAC-agreed decisions and directives, and political tensions between member states.
Trade among East African member states has been declining, standing at 31.4 per cent, largely due to existing non-tariff barriers and increasing imports from Asia. Intra-EAC trade fell to $2.4 billion in 2017, from $3.5 billion in 2013, according to a report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca).
“Many things — markets, consumptions patterns and quantities — have changed, and we still have non-tariff barriers. We still have a lot of work to do,” said Karera.
