East Africa Common Market Set to Increase Trade in The Region

East Africa - Set For Increased Trade

The Ministry of East African Community (MEAC) has asked service professionals in the country to position themselves prior to the roll out of the Common Market in July to reap fully from its opportunities. Speaking yesterday in Nairobi, MEAC Assistant Minister Peter Munya called on professional bodies to reduce stringent conditionality that might hamper the free movement of services. He said accountancy and legal services will be among the first to be liberalized once the Common Market Protocol is unveiled in July this year.

Others, he said will follow suit in due time and they include, advertisement services, architectural as well as engineering services. “I urge professional bodies in the country to find amicable solutions to these potential barriers to the free movement of professional services in the region,” he said. Currently, for one to practice law in Kenya, they have to pass through the Kenya School of Professional Studies which essentially blocks out practioneers from other EA countries in the country. Munya noted that come July when the Common Market will be effected, bigger market for professional will be open, thus the need for them to position themselves and take advantage of the arrangement.

“It would not make sense t all to confine yourselves within the borders of Kenya, while a market of 126 million people in EAC will be open for you,” he told accounting professional during a workshop at a Nairobi hotel. He said plans are underway to harmonize all sectors in the region in order to achieve full integration of the EAC, noting that the Law Society had led the way. “We have a Law Society of the EAC. Pans are underway to harmonize higher education in the region and a council is already in place to facilitate the process,” he said. Munya said the intention is to achieve a fully harmonized regional education system, such that academic certificates awarded in any EA country will be recognized in the others.

He expressed optimism that the Common Market will lead to increased volumes of trade the in the country and the region at large, growing revenues in the process. He said fear regarding loss of revenue resulting from removal of duties in the intra-EAC trade had been expressed during negotiations of the Customs Union Protocol but skeptics had been proven wrong. “Since the implementation of the CU from January 1 2005, none of the partner states have lost revenue, but instead, revenues have grown in leaps and bounds,” he noted. According to statistics, total revenues to Kenya grew from 2,775.2 million USD to 6,538.3 million USD in 2002/03 and 2007/08 financial years respectively, translating to a 58 percent increase. Revenues from import duties increased from 243.3 million USD to 499.5 million USD in 2002/03 and 2007/08 financial years respectively, which is a 51 percent increase. “In all the EAC partner states, revenue increased instead of decreasing, proving that the Custom Union leads to increase in revenue,” he said.

Munya however noted that a key challenge in the EAC integration lays in the communication gap that exists between officials and the citizenry. He said it sad that majority of EA citizens are in the dark about the vast investment opportunities that exist in the region because of lack of information on the progress of its integration. “We have however embarked on measures to reverse this shortcoming by launching a Communication Strategy that will improve our channels of communication in the region,” he said. The MEAC recently launched the National Sensitisation Programme on East African integration that it hopes will improve dissemination

of its information to its citizens.

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