EDITORIAL

Economic experts have advised the East African Community (EAC) and Uganda, in particular, to consolidate regional markets and forget about signing the EAC-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Civil Society Organisations in Uganda say EAC countries are better off improving trade within the region than sign a trade agreement with EU. They claim the pact is unfair to the EAC.

EPA is a reciprocal free trade agreement between Europe and EAC whose negotiations were launched in early 2000s. It mainly seeks to ensure these weak economies develop sustainably, integrate into the global economy, but also give back to Europe through trade. The EAC-EU EPA negotiations were concluded in October 2014 with a hope to sign the deal in July 2016. Rwanda and Kenya signed but Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania are yet to.

Tanzania made a decision not to sign, citing negative implications on her industrialisation. And although Uganda initially wanted to sign, it has since backtracked on the instructions of the President; and Burundi has not signed because it is under EU sanctions. It is important to understand the reasons why some members are hesitant to sign.

EPA does seem to read well, and one will realise it falls short of protecting EAC’s overall interests as it ‘thinks’ East Africa will never become producers of manufactured or capital goods. In its current form, the EPA deal, according to the CSOs advocating for fair trade deals, will compromise the EAC efforts to structurally transform their economies, hence retarding regional industrialisation.

But we need to sign this deal. The good news is that during the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, President Museveni met his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli to try and save it.

Much as the EAC feels there are sticky issues that need to be addressed, the region should behave as one strong economic entity by signing the pact without more delays, and tapping into the benefits that come with trading with a big market such as Europe. Much as Brexit might reduce the EU market strength, there are other benefits that the EU could still make available for East Africans. Such pacts come with benefits such as tourism and social relations.

We should also harness liberalisation, EPA provides for, because it caters for the protection of infant and sensitive industries. EAC governments should also stop the false impression of thinking that the endorsement of EPA will automatically bring money from the EU. EU must begin to look at East Africans as equal partners in the deal, not as beggars because both blocs stand to gain from the pact.

Source: ALl Africa

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.