A high level meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) has resolved that East African Community (EAC) partner states imposing visa requirements on regional citizens have until November to abolish the requirement.
During the 42nd Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) that was held at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, respective ministers from regional member states expressed concern that partner states still impose visa requirements on EAC citizens, emphasizing the need to expeditiously remove the requirement.
Adding that such requirements could also hinder access to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the meeting observed that it was high time the community considered putting in place a borderless bloc to facilitate the smooth flow of capital, services and goods.
However, South Sudan said her citizens are also still charged visa in some EAC Partner States.
The country still charges EAC citizens visa fees, specifically those from Rwanda and Burundi, with EAC citizens who had travelled to the country complaining of visa charges at Juba International Airport.
The meeting was informed that eight Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) remained outstanding and were at different levels of resolution while Partner States have, however, managed to resolve ten.
The Ministerial Session chaired by Burundi’s Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Hon. Marie Chantal Nijimbere, consequently directed Partner States to resolve all outstanding NTBs.
Among the resolved NTBs were a 25 per cent excise duty imposed by Kenya on Ugandan table eggs and 25 per cent Kenyan excise duty on onions, potatoes, potato crisps and chips from Uganda that became effective 1st July, 2022.
They also resolved an import ban and denial of market access by Kenya through non-issuance of import permits for powdered milk from Uganda as a means of cushioning the surplus production and low producer prices in Kenya.
They also agreed on the removal of 13 roadblocks between Nimule and Juba with Ugandan traders losing more than 150,000 South Sudanese pounds each.
South Sudan reported that she had already complied with a SCTIFI directive to remove all roadblocks, adding that there are now only two roadblocks from Nimule to Juba.
Among the new NTBs is a complaint by Kenya that Uganda was denying market access to EAC Partner States under preferential treatment by charging full Common External Tariff of 35 per cent to juices originating from Kenya.
Kenya also reported that Tanzania was subjecting Kenyan exports of animal and animal products to discriminatory treatment despite their commitment in the bilateral meeting to amend the Act to resolve the discriminatory charges on Kenyan animal and animal products by June 2022.
On her part, Tanzania reported that Kenya was charging a 25 per cent excise duty on hatching eggs exported by some Tanzanian companies.
Kenya said that Uganda charges 18 per cent Value Added Tax on exercise books from Kenya while Uganda manufacturers of the exercise books are VAT-exempt as per the provisions in the Uganda VAT Act.
Nijimbere disclosed that the value of intra-EAC trade represents 20 per cent share of intra-regional to global trade making the EAC bloc the first ranked compared to other regional economic communities in Africa, adding that the region was still faced with challenges that included NTBs imposed by Partner States which negatively affect the movement of goods and the welfare of EAC citizens.
The Director Social Sectors at the EAC Secretariat, EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki hailed the SCTIFI as a mechanism that gives policy direction, reviews and approves policy measures and activities that EAC has been implementing or plans to implement with regard to trade, industry, finance and investment matters.
“It is in this respect that we underscore the importance of SCTIFI since it is an engine for the socio-economic transformation of the region.” Mathuki said.
“While we aim and work hard to increase intra-regional Trade, Non-Tariff Barriers particularly denial of market access and other institution administrative measures remains a major factor impeding the free movement of goods across the region.”
The Partner States committed to addressing the new NTBs through the upcoming 35th Regional Monitoring Committee for NTBs.
