EAC bloc nears conclusion of tariff offer to conform to AfCFTA tariffs

Arusha, Tanzania | Xinhua | The East African Community (EAC) is making strides in conforming to trading requirements under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with plans underway to finalize the EAC tariff offer, the EAC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) has directed the EAC secretariat to convene meetings with experts by Dec. 15, 2021, to finalize the EAC tariff offer, said the statement issued by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania’s safari capital Arusha.

The statement said the EAC secretariat was directed to undertake an assessment of the number of additional tariff lines that have been moved by each member state from various categories.

Peter Mathuki, the EAC secretary general, said that a lot needs to be done to kick off trading under the AfCFTA agreement.

“Regional economic communities are major building blocks in the realization of the AfCFTA. EAC is keen on implementing policies, decisions, and directives, to ease trading under the agreement set to widen integration and increase intra-Africa trade,” he said.

African countries began officially trading under the AfCFTA on Jan. 1, 2021, in a pact connecting 1.3 billion people across Africa. The EAC member states are Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

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Xinhua