ISDS Case Map
EAC
With the East African Community under pressure to sign the Economic Partnership agreement with Europe, pressure is emerging from elsewhere: the US. Civil society warn of the dangers.
A senior Kenyan Government officer who wished not to be named confirmed that Tanzania has been dragging its feet in embracing the new EU trade deal. “This might prompt Kenya to sign the agreement alone," he said.
East African countries are scheduled to hold a meeting in September to resolve outstanding issues in order to conclude negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with EU.
Godfrey Ssali from the Uganda Manufacturers Association explains what is behind the current deadlock between the East African Community and the European Union on the negotiations underway to agree a set of Economic Partnership Agreements
Negotiations to set up a grand free trade zone encompassing 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa are progressing well and may be completed in 2015, a year before schedule, SADC officials reveal.
At a high level conference on the EAC-EU EPA negotiations in Entebbe recently, experts in trade and regional integration argued that the EAC should not be bound by the pressure of the EU deadline.
Three remaining contentious issues will be dealt with by next month, according to the Kenyan government, which will be good news for horticulture farmers who have been worried that their market access will be compromised if Kenya loses its privileges in the EU market.
African high-level officials indicated recently that negotiations for the establishment of a free-trade area spanning three major regional economic communities in Africa have progressed well and could conclude by the end of this year.
African countries need to look at the possibility of fast-tracking the tripartite Free Trade Area if hopes of an improved intra-African trade are to be met anytime soon, according to the African Union Commission
“The EAC states wont access European markets if we don’t sign EPA by October 1 but how prepared are we when some clauses are still not agreed upon?” Jane Nalunga, SEATINI Uganda country director, asks.
