East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Dr Peter Mathuki has committed to doing everything in his power to address non-tariff barriers and to work towards raising intra-regional trade from the current level of below 20% to more than 50% over the next five years.
“I pledge to work hand in hand with all stakeholders in the private and public sector to make sure that we remove NTBs in real time,” he told CEOs at a breakfast roundtable meeting organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in Kampala. “It cannot be business as usual but rather a need for unity of purpose – working collectively between the private and public sector as a team to serve the great people of East Africa,” he added.
He identified a range of issues that would help increase intra-regional trade, among them a review of the Common External Tariff (CET) on imports into the region and acceleration of the harmonisation of domestic taxes.
In addition, Dr Mathuki pledged to involve the private sector in infrastructure development through Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs), an approach that is expected to significantly reduce the national debt burden in the region.
He promised to work with partner states to establish ways to reduce the high energy costs in order to improve EACs attractiveness as an investment destination.
EAC SG commits to increasing intra-regional trade from 20-50%
East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Dr Peter Mathuki has committed to doing everything in his power to address non-tariff barriers and to work towards raising intra-regional trade from the current level of below 20% to more than 50% over the next five years.
“I pledge to work hand in hand with all stakeholders in the private and public sector to make sure that we remove NTBs in real time,” he told CEOs at a breakfast roundtable meeting organised by the East African Business Council (EABC) in Kampala. “It cannot be business as usual but rather a need for unity of purpose – working collectively between the private and public sector as a team to serve the great people of East Africa,” he added.
He identified a range of issues that would help increase intra-regional trade, among them a review of the Common External Tariff (CET) on imports into the region and acceleration of the harmonisation of domestic taxes.
In addition, Dr Mathuki pledged to involve the private sector in infrastructure development through Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs), an approach that is expected to significantly reduce the national debt burden in the region.
He promised to work with partner states to establish ways to reduce the high energy costs in order to improve EACs attractiveness as an investment destination.