Joint Press Release
AUC and EAC discuss measures to promote Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT)
Nairobi, 27th November 2014: Realizing that Compared to other regions in the world, Africa has the lowest level of intra-regional trade, the EAC Regional Consultative Meeting on the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)/Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) started on Thursday 27th November 2014 at Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya.
The consultative meeting is happening at the point that the East African Region is at the point of consolidating the integration process through implementation of the Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union Protocols, implementing the regional industrial policy and strategy, negotiating and implementing various multilateral market access agreements, increasingly attracting both domestic and foreign direct investment as well as discovering and exploring natural resources, especially the hydro carbons.
The Consultative Meeting is being attended by Member Sates of EAC; Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as the East African Business Council. The African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) also attend the Meetings as members of the AUC-UNECA-AfDB Joint Secretariat.
Making a statement on behalf of the AUC Commissioner for Trade and Industry, the AUC Director for Trade and Industry, Mrs.Treasure Maphanga, highlighted that despite that fact that Africa is rising and has a brighter future, still more has to be done to position the continent to benefit from and take advantage of the development potentials it has. “We are therefore duty bound to make decisions today that will position Africa to take advantage of these boundless possibilities tomorrow. The CFTA will be built upon the regional integration progresses made within all regions, including EAC as well as the Tripartite Free Trade agreement anticipated in the near future” said Mrs. Maphanga.
On his side, H.E. Ambassador Nelson Ndirangu, the Director of Economic Affairs and International Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Republic of Kenya, argued that the CFTA should not only focus on expanding and integrating trade but also extends to other areas such as infrastructure development in transport, information and communication technology and energy, customs, standardization, removal of non-tariff barriers and SPS measures and movement of businesses and persons.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Mr. Andrew Luzze, the Executive Director East African Business Council, noted that the degree to which Member States would have implemented existing trade commitments within their own economic groupings will be key in determining the success of the FTA tariff arrangement, therefore if the CFTA is to be progressive, it should go beyond the level of liberalization achieved by the Member States or the existing Regional Economic Communities so far.
The Consultative meeting is expected to facilitate dialogue among EAC Member States and the private sector on the CFTA and the BIAT Implementation Strategy, to Initiate a process of preparations in EAC for CFTA negotiations that could lead to the development of a Draft Action Plan and Strategy taking into account the regional dynamics and realities and Identify capacity building needs of EAC Member States and the EAC Secretariat for effective participation in CFTA negotiations and agreement on a joint resource mobilization strategy.

For more Information please contact Mr. Stanley Evarist Alphonce, Communication Officer, Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC, Tel: +251929188243, E-mail: AlphonceS@africa-union.org
Batanai Chikwene
Policy Officer | Department of Trade and Industry | African Union Commission
Tel: (251) 11 518 2961 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: CHIKWENEB@africa-union.org |
Addis Ababa | Ethiopia