Posted on February, 17, 2022 at 08:00 am
Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan said yesterday that Tanzania was ready to host an Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiation meeting early next month.
The EPAs are trade and development agreements negotiated between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partner countries in an effort to boost trade by removing barriers to promote healthy competition in the EU market and lower prices for consumers.
EPA negotiations between the EU and East African Community (EAC) member states were finalised in 2014.
However, actual signing and ratification of the trade arrangement stalled and in the process, Kenya, which is the biggest exporter to the European market, had to seek temporary access to the EU market under special arrangements. So far, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi have neither signed nor ratified the agreement, citing various country-specific concerns.
The pact requires all EAC countries to sign and ratify for it to take effect, but only Kenya has signed and ratified, while Rwanda had signed but not ratified.
But President Hassan said yesterday that the government had agreed to go back to the drawing board and discuss the sticking points.
Source: The Citizen