EABC urges East Africa to jointly negotiate trade deals to boost integration

The East African Business Council (EABC) on Thursday urged East African Community (EAC) member states to negotiate trade agreements as a bloc with foreign countries in order to boost regional integration.

Peter Mathuki, CEO of EABC told journalists in Nairobi that implementation of a common policy in the field of external trade, trade relations with foreign countries will help to build trust in the region.

According to the regional trade lobby, implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will also have numerous benefits for the region.

“The intra-African liberalization of services trade could bring great benefits to East Africa and make the region more competitive given that some countries such as Kenya and Tanzania have a net service trade balance,” Mathuki said.

He observed that the AfCFTA also provides better conditions for regional value chains and integration into global value chains which is a catalyst to the transformation of African economies towards greater utilization of technology. Enditem