East Africa may open up to the EU

The five countries of the East African Community may speed up the opening of their markets to the European Union, Rwanda's industry minister says.
Vincent Karega says that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda may try to remove almost two thirds of their import tariffs in the next two years.

The EU is currently negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.

They replace preferential trade deals that expire at the end of the year.

The World Trade Organisation's waiver on the EU's trade deals with nearly 80 former colonies ends on 31 December.

"The two years is very much an interim period during which flexibility will be looked into," Mr Karega told the BBC.

"Business is important as far as our countries are concerned because we cannot rely on aid all the time," he added.

Cutting revenues

The International Monetary Fund has expressed concern that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) could damage poor African countries by cutting their customs revenues.

"The long-term impact of the discussion will certainly be positive to the Africans but you need to address the short-term concerns that are being raised by the Africans as well," said the IMF's Africa director Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane.

The EPAs would allow most products to be traded duty-free between the EU and the other blocs.

There are expected to be exceptions for particularly sensitive products such as sugar and rice, which will be liberalised more gradually.

Many developing nations rely on customs duties for revenue because they are easier to collect than other taxes.

EU officials have been stepping up pressure in recent weeks on countries with preferential trade deals. If no agreement is reached then their exports into the EU could face much higher tariffs from 1 January.


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