Rwanda expresses interest in joining Kenya-EU economic partnership deal

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Rwanda has expressed interest in joining Kenya’s Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), a top official said, becoming the first partner State of the East African Community (EAC) to do so.

Ambassador Henriette Geiger, the Head of the EU delegation in Kenya, on Tuesday said that Rwanda has signalled its intention to join the deal.

The EPA, which took effect last month, gives products from Kenya duty-free access to the 27 countries in the EU.“It seems that Rwanda is now ready to join (the EPA). They have signalled their interest but we haven’t started negotiating it,” said Ms Geiger.“The EPA was supposed to be an agreement of the EU with the entire East African Community. We will have to see whether others will join,” she said.

Ms Geiger was speaking in Nairobi during a courtesy call to Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industrialization Salim Mvurya.

Kenya is the only country in the EAC that has not been enjoying duty-free and quota-free access to the EU.

The other EAC countries have been enjoying duty-free access to the key economic bloc as they are designated as least-developed countries.

The EAC allowed Kenya to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the EU with an option for the other countries to join later.

There were fears from various stakeholders that the Kenya-EU EPA would hurt some sectors as it would enable cheap subsidised products from the EU into the country.

Mr Mvurya has allayed these fears, stating that agricultural products from the EU are part of the list of goods from the bloc that will not enjoy duty-free access to the Kenyan market.“The sensitive list of products which includes agricultural products is part of the exclusion,” he said.

The EU is Kenya’s first export destination.

Europe is the third largest recipient of Kenya’s goods only behind Africa (43.2 percent) and Asia (25.8 percent).

The country’s main export to Europe is agricultural produce including tea, coffee, flowers, and fresh beans and peas.

Under the EPA, Kenya will ease duty on goods from the EU starting from the seventh year of the deal coming into effect, which will be in 2031. These restrictions will be eased gradually until the 25th year of the EPA.“It is crucial that both the business and investor communities are fully informed about the stakes involved – not only for the private sector but also for public and government agencies,” said Mr Mvurya.

Kenya also has an EPA with the UK, which came into force in March 2021. The Kenya-UK EPA allows Kenya’s goods to continue accessing the UK market duty-free and without quotas following its exit from the EU.bambani@ke.nationmedia.com