Ethiopian Review

The East African Community (EAC) has kicked off a series of public sittings to solicit views on the touchy trade issues ahead of the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

The EAC Secretariat said on Monday it had scheduled a “dedicated session” on regional negotiations on the EPA, specifically targeting the negotiations on Trade in Services, due to take place on 3-5 June 2009, in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

The Arusha-based EAC Secretariat is spearheading negotiations on behalf of the five EAC states on the EPA with the negotiators receiving requests on issues touching on trade in services.

The EAC experts will hold the public sittings to receive offers on trade in services from the Kenyan authorities as it tries to further develop the legal text on trade in services.

The dedicated session in Nairobi follows the regional negotiations on Trade Related Issues (TRIs) held on 18-22 May 2009 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Dar es Salaam session developed Legal Text for the respective trade related issues for purposes of the bilateral EAC-EC-EPA negotiations, the EAC said.

The talks are focusing on trade related issues, including Competition Policy, Investment and Private Sector Development, Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development and Intellectual Property Rights.

At the Nairobi talks, the East African Business Council (EABC) and the Toronto-based International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP) are expected to make presentations and share their perspectives on the preparatory process regarding EPA.

In addition to providing views from the private sector on the preparations, talks will consider broader modalities, as well as issues related to the legal text, and the formulation of requests and offers.

East African leaders designated the EAC to lead negotiations with the European Commission (EC), which has been seeking for a new trade deal with its African trading partners.

The EC has been criticised for attempting to force African states to offer reciprocal services as those given to the African countries entering the European market, a deal which has been blasted as anti-development and not in the interest of African states.

Kenya, along with the other EAC states, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, signed an interim deal with the EC in 2007 to avoid losing its flower markets in Europe.

- AFRIQEJET