EAC bloc urged to expedite review of common external tariff to promote trade

Arusha, Tanzania | Xinhua | Member states of the East African Community (EAC) have been urged to expedite the comprehensive review of the EAC Common External Tariff (CET) in order to promote trade and industrialization in the region, the EAC said in a statement released on Monday.

Betty Maina, chairperson of the EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI), said that the failure to conclude the review of the CET, which started in 2016, was providing leeway to products from other parts of the world to flood the EAC common market at the region’s expense, said the statement.

Maina, who is also Kenya’s cabinet secretary for industrialization, trade and enterprise development, was speaking during the opening of the ministerial session of the 39th SCTIFI at the EAC headquarters in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha.

According to the statement, Maina said that conclusion of the EAC CET would enable the region to trade more with itself in addition to promoting the growth of domestic industries in East Africa.

“We need to prioritize the regional trade and industrialization agenda by working together to conclude the comprehensive review of the CET,” she said.

“At the moment we have a punctured wall that allows products from outside the region to penetrate our market,” she said.

Member states of the EAC are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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Xinhua