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Kenya and the European Union signed a long-negotiated trade agreement to increase the flow of goods between the two markets. This is a part of the EU’s aggressive Africa-focused program
Kenya and the European Union signed a long-negotiated trade agreement to increase the flow of goods between the two markets. This is a part of the EU’s aggressive Africa-focused program.
The new trade deal with Europe is the culmination of trade talks between the EU and the regional East African Community (EAC) that started roughly a decade ago.
Kenya signed and ratified an initial trade agreement with the EU in 2016 alongside the EAC but it fell through after some countries failed to greenlight the pact, with Kenya eventually pursuing its deal.
The Economic Partnership Agreement will give Kenya duty-free and quota-free access to the EU, its biggest export market, while European goods will receive progressive tariff reductions. The agreement is the first broad trade deal between the EU and an African nation since 2016 and follows a spending spree by China on lavish infrastructure projects across the continent.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was in Kenya’s capital Nairobi to sign the agreement and termed it as historic since it would take the economic relationship between the EU and Kenya to a higher orbit of growth. She hailed the accord as a win-win situation for both parties.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Kenyan President Ruto said that the core of the present deal was to put real money into the pockets of ordinary people. He said that the agreement would help Kenya to achieve economic resilience.
Both the Kenyan and the European parliaments must ratify the deal before it comes into force. The European Union said that the deal was the most ambitious economic partnership it had with a developing country and envisages commitments to sustainable development in areas such as labour rights and environmental protection, the EU said in a statement.
The 27-nation EU bloc accounts for more than 20 percent of Kenya’s overall exports, according to government data, mainly agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits, and the country’s famous tea and coffee. Total two-way trade between the markets hit 3.3 billion euros ( US$3.6 billion) in 2022, up 27 percent since 2018, according to EU figures.
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An economic powerhouse of East Africa, Kenya is seen by the international community as a reliable and stable democracy in a turbulent region. The EU has taken steps to counter China’s Belt and Road program, announcing in February it would increase investments in Kenya by hundreds of millions of dollars through its own Global Gateway initiative.
Kenya’s biggest infrastructure project, a US$5 billion railway line connecting Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, which opened in 2017, was built by a Chinese company with Chinese financing. Kenya is also negotiating a trade deal with the United States.
