How delayed EAC protocols slow down regional trade
Saturday August 24 2024
EAC Secretary-General Veronica Nduva addresses the Kepsa-EAC SG Roundtable in Nairobi, Kenya on August 14, 2024. PHOTO | POOL
The East African Community (EAC) may have to blame itself for slow trade between its partner States, even though the bloc has some of the most ambitious business protocols on the continent.
In spite of these, trade between members has reduced from 16 percent to 14 percent in recent years, signaling persistent protectionism and defiance of the bloc’s policies.
The EAC passed the Customs Union, and Common Market Protocol but private sector members drawn from the eight partner States under their umbrella body, the East African Business Council, argue that a new approach to the EAC integration is urgently required to reverse the trend.
Read more here