The East African Community is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States that will remove uncertainties surrounding the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The five member states have submitted their request to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modalities and the time to start negotiations on the pact. According to EAC Director General of Customs and Trade Peter Kiguta, the USTR is...

07 September 2015

Technical Officials from the East African Community (EAC) and the United States (U.S.) met 12 to 15 February 2014 in Bujumbura, Burundi to discuss Trade Africa and the EAC - U.S. Trade and Investment Partnership (TIP). In particular, the Technical Officials discussed among others, the Ministerial guidance provided in August 2013; AGOA; Regional Investment Treaty; Trade Facilitation; Trade Capacity Building, and Commercial Dialogue. Both...

17 February 2014

United States Trade Representative Michael Froman today welcomed the notable progress made on President Obama’s Trade Africa initiative following a U.S.-East African Community (EAC) Trade Ministerial Meeting. The EAC is a regional economic organization comprised of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda and represents a market with significant opportunity for U.S. exports and investment. Ambassador Froman issued the following statement...

12 August 2013

President Barrack Obama of the United States recently launched a project dubbed 'Trade Africa' aimed at doubling intra-regional trade in the five partner states of the East African Community (EAC). The project will hopefully see EAC exports to the US go up by 40%, reduce by 15% the average time needed to import or export a container from the ports of Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to land-locked Burundi and Rwanda in the EAC's interior.This new...

05 August 2013

Ministers from East African Community member states and officials from US government agencies jointly announced on Saturday that they have taken "important steps" to advance a trade and investment partnership. The EAC and the US said they will hold technical talks "at the soonest possible date" regarding negotiations on a proposed investment treaty and trade-facilitation agreement. In talks held in Nairobi on Friday, the two sides also...

22 October 2012

The USA is proposing a new trade arrangement with East Africa even as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), enacted in 2000, remains in force. Commerce is arguably the most ancient and effective tool in the fight against poverty and development of infrastructure. It is early trade links between Africa and the outside world that explains the development of cities such as Mombasa and Dar ess Salaam and the subsequent opening up of the...

23 July 2012

The US has signed two separate agreements with the Southern African and the Eastern African states to deepen US trade ties with the two regions as well as lead efforts to attract American investments into the regions. US trade representative, Ambassador Susan Schwab, and her counterparts from east and southern Africa signed the two trade and investment agreements that will further deepen and expand US trade ties with those regions, the US...

17 July 2008