East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA- The East African Community (EAC) has dispelled reports that the EAC-European Union (EU)  Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations have stalled.
EAC Director General Customs and Trade Directorate, Peter Kiguta has affirmed that the EPA negotiations between the EAC and EU are on course.
 "The question of EAC-EU EPA negotiations stalling or Partner States being bulldozed does not arise. We are on course and we expect to conclude the negotiations as programmed," the Director General declared when responding to media queries today on the progress of the negotiations," Kiguta said.
In a statement from the EAC Secretariat, Kiguta disclosed that EAC EPA experts met in Nairobi in October and deliberated on various issues under negotiations.
"The EPA experts meeting was held pursuant to the 4th EPA Negotiations Session of the EAC-EC Permanent Secretaries/Senior Officials held on September 15 2011 in Zanzibar in which both parties agreed on a Joint Work Programme for the Comprehensive EPA Negotiations until December 2011," said the Director General.
Reports from the Zanzibar meeting, indicate that EPA experts deliberated on the Rules of Origin, Agriculture, Economic and Development Cooperation, and Dispute Settlement, Institutional Arrangements in preparation for the EAC-EC Experts inter-session meeting to be held in mid-November 2011 and the Joint EAC-EC Technical and Senior Officials meeting to be held in the second week of December 2011.
On the Rules of Origin (ROO) , one of the stumbling blocks to the regions exports to the EU, the Director General said the EAC EPA experts considered a revised Protocol on ROO submitted by the European Commission (EC) and made proposals.
The experts also held consultations with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat with a view to discerning areas of harmonization on the EPA ROO.
Reports further said in doing so, the EAC were implementing the Council directive on harmonizing positions on EPA ROO with COMESA and SADC.
It was further disclosed that the EPA experts consulted with the African Cotton and Textiles Industry Federation (ACTIF) on the industry position on the preferred ROO for the chapters on cotton and textiles, adding that "these consultations enabled the EPA experts refine their proposals on the Revised Protocol of Rules of Origin".
The EPA experts also verified a consolidated text putting together in one document all the negotiating texts and proposals under the EPA negotiations.
This includes: the Framework Economic Partnership Agreement (FEPA) initialed in November 2007 with all the amendments; concluded texts on Customs and Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).