EAC-EU EPA talks on
East African Business Week
EAC-EU EPA talks on
30 October 2011
By David Muwanga
The Director General of the EAC Customs and Trade Directorate, Mr. Peter Kiguta has confirmed that the East African Community (EAC)-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Negotiations is on course and Partner States are not being bulldozed.
He disclosed that negotiations team of experts met in Nairobi in October this year pursuant to the forth session of the EAC-EC Permanent Secretaries/Senior Officials held on 15 September 2011 in Zanzibar in which both Parties agreed on a joint work programme until December 2011.
He said the experts discussed rules of origin, agriculture, economic and development cooperation, and dispute settlement, institutional arrangements in preparation for a session to be held in mid-November and another to be held in December 2011.
Dr. Kiguta said the experts considered a revised protocol on rules of origin submitted by the European Commission and held consultations with the COMESA Secretariat with a view to discerning areas of harmonization on the rules.
"The EAC were implementing the Council directive on harmonizing positions on EPA rules of origin COMESA and SADC," he explained. He said the experts also consulted with the African Cotton and Textiles Industry Federation on the industry position on the preferred rules of origin for the chapters on cotton and textiles which enabled them to refine their proposals on the revised protocol of rules of origin.
