Tanzania demands study on impact of EU trade deal
Tanzania wants a study conducted on
the impact of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union on the
East African Community, ahead of the Summit of Heads of State scheduled for
next month.The demand reiterates Tanzania's
position that Kenya and Rwanda should not have signed the EPA last year and,
given the inadequate time before the summit, there won't be much progress on
the matter before April 1, when the EU expects the EAC to sign up to the
accord.
In an EAC Sectoral Council of
Ministers' meeting on trade, industry, finance and investment held in Arusha
this month, Tanzania demanded that the EAC Secretariat conduct an analysis on
the effects of the EPA on the Community.
This, Dar es Salaam said, would
bring about regional perspectives on the concerns they have raised with
Burundi. "The results will guide the ministers' and presidents' decision
on the EPA in the next summit or even at a later stage.
Signing a bad EPA will set a bad
precedent, which will compromise the region's interests in subsequent Free
Trade Area negotiations," said Tanzania in the sectoral council's meeting
report.
Tanzania further asked: "What
is the rationale of Burundi signing the EPA while the EU has imposed an embargo
on its exports? How will EAC partner states avoid such scenarios of the EU
unilaterally putting embargoes on trade under the EPA while Article 136 of the
EPA still refers to the same agreement that the EU has used to put an embargo
on Burundi. How will the EAC partner states operationalise the free movement of
goods while there is no free circulation of goods in the region and no refund
mechanism for Customs duty paid to another partner state?"
Maoni
Chapisha Maoni