PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
East
Africa Business Council receives grant
from TradeMark East Africa, to reduce barriers
to trade in the EAC
Nairobi, 20th
August 2019: The East African
Business Council (EABC) officially signed a
grant agreement with TradeMark East Africa
(TMEA).
This will support implementation of a 3 year programme, “Integrating Public-Private Sector Dialogue
(PPD) for Trade and Investment in East Africa Community (EAC) Programme”.
The
partnership will support EABC's advocacy
efforts of improving coordination, reporting and resolution of Non Tariff Barriers along the corridors;
harmonization and adoption of East African Standards/ Sanitary and
phytosanitary (SPS) measures; improve adoption and harmonization of Customs
and Domestic Tax-related policies and
trade facilitation in the EAC.
To
strengthen and sustain EAC’s trade and investment, it is critical that an
enabling environment is in place to guarantee growth and predictability. Public‐Private Dialogue plays a crucial role
in addressing constraints, providing short‐term
stimulus with long‐term
impact and contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction.
The
project will enhance advocacy and dialogue on transport and logistics, trade
facilitation, customs & tax, standards, and NTBs in a bid to increase trade
and investments in the EAC. Also, the programme extends beyond the EAC and
incorporates the COMESA, COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and
Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
“Inadequate
trading regimes restrictions on the export of certain commodities, and lack of
product diversification and the existence of NTBs continue to hamper
intra-regional trade which is still low at 20% compared to other RECs,” said Hon. Peter Mathuki, EABC CEO.
The
EABC is a key convenor of high‐level
regional Public‐Private
Sector Dialogue forums with an “Observer
Status” at the EAC level will lead the coalition-implementing partners
of the project.
Barriers to trading across borders
such as multiple product standard inspections, bureaucratic trade procedures
delay business transactions and increase the cost of doing business. The time
it takes to export is at an average of 76.hrs which is too high compared
to 12.5 hours in OECD High-Income
Economies, WorldBank Ease of Doing Business report (2018).
“According
to WorldBank Ease of Doing Business report (2018), the EAC is ranked at 149 out
of 190 in the ease of trading across borders, as EABC, we will coordinate, set
the agenda and facilitate evidence‐based
research on Public-Private Dialogues to reducing barriers to trade in the EAC
region,” said Hon. Peter Mathuki, EABC CEO.
“We
appreciate this partnership with TradeMark East Africa as it will support EABC to
evaluate and monitor EAC policies to ensure they work for businesses at ground
level and create momentum to accelerate
needed the policy reforms to the business and investment climate in the EAC” said Hon. Peter Mathuki, EABC CEO.
-Ends-
1.
For more information:
For EABC
Hon. Peter Mathuki
EABC Chief Executive Officer
For TMEA
Allan Ngugi
Director, Business Competitiveness
Email: Allan.Ngugi@trademarkea.com
2.
About EABC
The East African Business Council (EABC) is the regional apex body of Private Sector associations and
Corporates from the 6 East African Countries. It was established in 1997 to
foster the interests of the Private Sector in the Integration process of the
East African Community. EABC
was granted observer status in organs and activities of the East African
Community (EAC) and therefore, participates in various sectoral meetings,
meetings of the Coordination Committee, the EAC Council of Ministers, and the
Summit of the EAC Heads of State; with a view to ensure that the agenda of the Private Sector is well articulated
and received by the policymakers.
Vision:
Borderless East
Africa for business and investment.
Mission:
To promote
sustainable Private Sector-driven growth.
EABC
Membership is open to all national and regional associations as well as
Corporates with interest in the EAC integration process
or operations in the region. At the national
level, EABC activities are coordinated
through the EABC National Focal Points.
These are Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industries Burundi (CFCIB), Kenya
Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF),
Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) and Private Sector Foundation Uganda
(PSFU).
For
more information visit www.eabc.info.
3. About TradeMark East Africa
TradeMark (Trade and Markets) East
Africa is an aid-for-trade organisation that was established in 2010, with the
aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through increased trade. TMEA operates
on a not-for-profit basis and is funded by the development agencies of the
following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Union, Finland,
Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and United States of America. TMEA
works closely with Regional Intergovernmental Organisations, like the East
Africa Community, national governments, the private sector and civil society
organisations.
The first phase of TMEA (2010-2018) delivered
exceptional results which contributed to substantial gains in East Africa’s
trade and regional integration in terms of reduced cargo transit times,
improved border efficiency, and reduced barriers to trade.
We are now in the second phase (2018 - 2023) where we
will focus on:
1.
Reducing barriers to trade; and
2. Improving business
competitiveness.
We believe this will deliver large-scale impact in job
creation, poverty reduction and enhanced economic welfare.
TMEA
has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with successful operations and offices
in EAC-Arusha, Burundi (Bujumbura), Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Democratic
Republic of Congo (Bukavu), Ethiopia (Addis-Ababa), South Sudan, Uganda
(Kampala) and Rwanda (Kigali). To find out more, please visit our website www.trademarkea.com.
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