EAC partner states meet minimum requirements for Category A trading under AfCFTA

Arusha, Tanzania, Feb 20- East African Community Partner States have adopted the EAC Tariff offer for Category A products after the start of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The offer will allow to 90.2 per cent (5,129 tariff lines out of the total 5,688 lines)to be liberalised in 10 years.

The EAC is now among the State Parties that have met the minimum requirements for Category A to start trading on a provisional basis. It is negotiating AfCFTA as a bloc.

An EAC Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) held on Friday further directed the EAC Secretariat to submit the EAC Tariff Offer for Category A to the AfCFTA as soon as possible.

The Extra-Ordinary SCTIFI also directed the EAC Secretariat to convene an Experts meeting by April 15 to consider categories B and C of the EAC Tariff Offer.

The tariff offers will be subjected to verification by the AfCFTA Secretariat, which is based in Accra, Ghana.

The AfCFTA has so far verified 29 tariff offers to ensure that they meet the modalities and this will increase to 34 once the EAC Partner States offers are verified.

Verification of the tariff offers will ensure that AfCFTA Member States that meet the minimum requirements start trading under the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.

Speaking at a media briefing, Kenya’s PS for EAC, Kevit Desai who also chaired the Extra-Ordinary SCTIFI meeting, said that AfCFTA would give Partner States access to an extended market of more than 900 million people.

Desai said that the Community would also benefit from increased opportunities for trade, employment creation, industrialisation and economic prosperity.

“The expanded opportunities include manufactured products, value addition, regional value chains, agro-processing, motor vehicle assembly, pharmaceuticals, auto spares industries and mineral processing among other areas,” said Desai.