THE government will take the views of the private sector in deliberation of its position on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (EAC), a cabinet minister has said.
Industry, Trade and Investments Minister
Charles Mwijage told members of the private sector at the CEO
Roundtable gala dinner in Dar es Salaam on Saturday that the government
would take on board their views in reaching a position on the protracted
negotiations of the trade deal with the EU.
“You will be invited when we deliberate
on the government position on EPAs,” the minister told a number of heads
of businesses at the 8th Annual gala dinner, which is a policy dialogue
forum and a platform for captains of industry to engage with the
government on the issues affecting the business environment in the
country.
He said although the government did not
consult them when it decided not to sign the trade deal, it had their
interests at heart to make sure the local businesses were protected from
any deal that may have negative impacts on them.
Leaders of the East African Community
(EAC) postponed EPA with the EU when they met in Dar es Salaam in
September and demanded more time to assess the impact of the agreements
before the actual signing takes place.
Kenya and Rwanda signed the trade deal
with EU in August on fears that they may lose access to European markets
when their shipments to the EU market would have started attracting
duty after the October 1 deadline.
However, the deal needs approval from
all members of the East African Community bloc -- which also includes
Burundi and Uganda -- to take effect. The EU granted Kenya a four-month
reprieve to ratify the agreement saying it demonstrated commitment to
the trade pact.
The EU parliament extended the deadline
to withdraw Kenya’s preferential market access to the EU market to
February 2, 2017. Kenya stands to lose the most without the deal signed,
as other member states -- including Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda --
would still continue getting duty- and quota-free access under EU’s
Everything But Arms initiative since they are classified as Least
Developed Countries.
The EU is Kenya’s biggest export
destination, taking up cut flowers, French beans, fruit, fish, textiles,
coffee and tea. Members of Parliament unanimously called on the
government not to sign the trade deal due to potential negative
implications for the country’s industrialisation strategy if the deal is
inked in its current form.
The parliamentary vote was preceded by
an information session during which three scholars of the University of
Dar es Salaam – Palamagamba Kabudi, Ng’waza Kamatta, and John Jingu –
cautioned that the pact would be detrimental to the country’s economy.
The scholars had been tasked by the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to assess the implications of
the EPA. MPs from both the ruling party and the opposition parties
called on the Tanzanian government to renegotiate the EPA on terms that
would allow for better protection of domestic industries.
A few parliamentarians also expressed
concerns that rejecting the deal could have a negative impact on aid
flows and development cooperation between the EU and EAC countries.
The EU Head of Delegation to Tanzania,
Mr Roeland Van Geer, recently told the ‘Daily News’ that the union had
no intention to impose sanctions on Tanzania to press the East African
nation into ratifying the widely criticised trade deal.
Under the terms of the EPA, the EU will
liberalise its market for EAC goods by 100 per cent while EAC member
states will liberalise their market by 82.6 per cent on a progressive
basis over period of 25 years after signature.
No comments:
Post a Comment