BIEAC National Workshop on Regional Integration and Trade Processess at National and Regional Levels

SEATINI Uganda organised a National Workshop on the Regional Integration and Trade processes in Entebbe between 20th and 21st May 2010. The Report for this Workshop, the workshop's findings and way forward, shall be posted soon.

National Workshop on Building an Inclusive East African Community: Challenges and Opportunitiesartnership Agreements

SEATINI –Uganda together with CUTS Geneva Resource Center organised National workshop under the theme “Building an Inclusive East African Community.” The workshop aimed at examining the opportunities and challenges in building an East African Community that is inclusive...more >>

Building An Inclusive East Africa Community

Economic Partnership Agreements

The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and a group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are a continuation of pre-existing relations between certain Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the territories that were under their jurisdictions at the beginning of the European economic integration process.  These relations date back to the 1957 Treaty of Rome that established an association framework between the territories and the EEC followed by the signing of the Yaounde I and II Conventions in 1963 and 1969 respectively that were later replaced by the Lome Convention of 1975 and ultimately the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2001. 

The EC-ACP association is characterised by maintaining close economic and commercial relations between the two regions, including the grant of certain financial incentives by the EC to the ACP countries in the form of development aid. In the Lome Convention, trade regime was characterised by the granting of preferential access to ACP states exports by the EC on a non-reciprocal basis.  However, with the advent of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1994, these relations were found to be incompatible with its Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rule. EC had to seek WTO waivers to stay in conformity with the WTO rules until when in 2001 it agreed to bring these relations in conformity with WTO rules by signing reciprocal agreements with the ACP countries.

In order to implement this commitment, EC started negotiating the EPAs in 2002.  It was agreed to sequence the negotiations in two phases.  The first phase would take place at an all ACP-EC level and would address horizontal issues of interest to all parties.  The second phase would be at the level of ACP countries and regions, and would address specific commitments; this was done for six regions (West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Southern Africa development community, Caribbean and Pacific region).  The WTO waiver granted to the parties was to expire by the end of 2007 and hence Interim Agreements were initialled with some of them in order to meet the deadline of the waiver.

EAC and EPAs

The EAC signed an interim agreement with the EU in November 2007, though the negotiations are still ongoing.  At the beginning of these negotiations Kenya and Uganda were part of the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) configuration, and Tanzania was negotiating under the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). In 2005, the EAC became a Customs Union (CU). As negotiations for the EPAS progressed it became apparent that they could not be concluded under different configurations without compromising the union. With the 2007 accession of Burundi and Rwanda, four of the EAC partner states were negotiating the EPAS under ESA, while one under SADC. At the August 2007 EAC Heads of State summit, it was decided that EAC would conclude the EPAs as a bloc. This was to build on the work already done by the partner states in their previous configurations. The negotiations between EAC and EC are at an advanced stage, with a target of signing the final EPAs by July 2009.

Opportunities and Challenges

These developments on the two fronts of regional integration in Eastern Africa and the EPAs offer significant opportunities for promoting economic and social development in the EAC region. However, a wide range of challenges, many of which proved to be stumbling blocks in the previous effort to establish the EAC, still remain. These include those relating to:

• Implementing existing agreements: This includes phasing out tariffs within the region in order to implement the FTA, and a common external tariff (CET), as well as removing non-tariff barriers (NTBs).
• Agreeing to future terms for cooperation and external trade: This includes possible adjustments to the CET and external trade terms such as those relating to EPAs and the region’s engagement in the wider regional integration process such as the one announced in October 2008 at Kampala for integration of EAC, SADC and COMESA.
• Adjusting to emerging economic and social dynamics: This is to ensure that while trade integration creates new opportunities, it also leads to redistribution of resources away from some sectors, and those within these sectors need support to take up opportunities elsewhere.
• Ensuring cooperation: This most effectively contributes to promoting inclusive developments and poverty reduction, hence, economically and socially marginalised groups require targeted assistance in order to access new trading opportunities...

Read More [PDF

Research and Documentation

Report on Awareness Raising Workshop

Download [PDF]

Report: National Workshop on Building an Inclusive East African Community: Challenges and Opportunities [Download PDF]

Organization & Administration

SEATINI is run by an Chief Executive Director, a deputy director and coordinator of Southern Africa, and a coordinator of Eastern Africa. These principle officers are assisted by a minimal supporting staff and a team of researchers, consultants, and international experts with practical experience in the area of trade negotiations. SEATINI also draws heavily from international organizations such as the UNCTAD, UNDP and the WTO.