The East African Community (EAC) has resolved 26 non-Tarrif Barriers out of 33 reported as of June 2023.
The secretariate is however calling for speedy resolution of the remaining seven barriers to facilitate intra-trade within the region
“To facilitate free movement of goods, Partner States have effectively eliminated Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) as they arise and have cumulatively eliminated a significant number of 184 NTBs with only a few remain outstanding,” said East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Peter Mathuki.
The Secretary General who was delivering the annual State of the EAC Address at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, disclosed that EAC total trade increased by 13.4 percent to US$74.1 billion in 2022 from US$65.3billion in 2021, while the total Intra-EAC trade grew by 11.2 percent to US$10.9billion in 2022 from US$9.8 billion in 2021.
The percentage share of Intra-EAC trade to EAC total trade stood at 15 percent in 2022, and 2023 has indicated a positive trend with 16 per cent in January and 19 per cent in February recorded of total EAC trade.
“The increase is attributed to a strong collaboration with Partner States to promote EAC trade including admission of DRC, timely resolution of Non-Tariff Barriers, enhanced trade facilitation initiatives, harmonization of 2,568 East African standards (Partner States have adopted the EAC Harmonized Standards, ranging from 77 per cent to 91 per cent as of June 2023), promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through the Annual EAC MSMEs Trade Fair (Jua Kali Nguvu Kazi exhibition), sensitisation and capacity building of relevant stakeholders, among other things,” he said.
Dr Mathuki said that the implementation of the Single Customs Territory, which is a stop gap measure towards the realisation of a fully-fledged Custom Union in the EAC, has seen a reduction in the turn-around time from an average of 21 days to four (4) days along the EAC corridors.
“About 95 per cent of the EAC Customs regimes including imports and exports have been operationalised with transit being piloted. The average transit time from the main EAC Ports of Entry (Dar es Salaam and Mombasa) to the exit borders reduced from 86.16 hours (3.59 days) to 81.84 hours (3.2 days) in 2022,” said the SG, adding that a comprehensive review of the EAC Customs Management Act, 2004 was also finalised to enhance the operations of the Single Customs territory.
“The operationalisation of additional OSBPs with non-EAC countries Tunduma / Nakonde (Zambia/Tanzania), Moyale/Moyale (Ethiopia/Kenya), and Kasumulu / Songwe (Tanzania/Malawi) has led to a reduction in cross border clearance time by 80 per cent,” he added.
On the Common Market Protocol, Dr. Mathuki revealed that five (5) out of the seven (7) EAC Partner States commenced the issuance of the EA e-Passport to facilitate the free movement of persons across the region.
“To facilitate the free movement of services, the Community adopted and is implementing a Mechanism for Removal of Restrictions in trade in services with the aim of identifying and monitoring the removal of restrictions in service sectors,” said Dr. Mathuki.
The Secretary General said that to facilitate the right of establishment, the Community adopted and is implementing the EAC Private Sector Development Strategy – to catalyse investment and business promotion in the region.
