East African investors urge elimination trade barriers in Kenya, Uganda

NAIROBI — The East African Business Council (EABC), a regional apex body of the private sector, on Wednesday called for bilateral dialogue in order to eliminate all outstanding Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) between Kenya and Uganda in order to boost regional trade.

John Bosco Kalisa, CEO of EABC urged the two members of the East African Community (EAC) to avoid a trade stalemate and retaliation measures occasioned by the imposition of the trade barriers.

“EABC believes that retaliation is not and should not be the ultimate solution but rather the two sisterly nations should sit together to resolve all outstanding issues amicably,” Kalisa said in a statement.

According to the EABC, Uganda said it will restrict from its domestic market some of Kenya’s raw and processed agricultural products in a reciprocal move that follows its eastern neighbor’s continued ban on some of its agricultural products.

Kalisa said that intra-EAC trade is currently low at approximately 15 percent and is attributed to the denials of preferential market access to EAC originating products.

He opined that new trade measures on retaliation will reduce trade further, affect employment, market access, economies of scale of industries and the well-being of the EAC trading bloc.

According to the regional lobby, non-tariff barriers not only increase transaction time and the cost of doing business across borders but also set back the competitiveness of products originating from the EAC region.

Kalisa added that the absence of an effective EAC trade dispute settlement mechanism hinders the timely resolution of persistent and mushrooming trade barriers.

EABC draws membership from the private sector of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.