Kenya Appoints Team to Lead Economic Partnership Agreement Terms

Kenya’s minister for trade has appointed a four-member team that will represent the country in the Economic Partnership Agreement Council.

Betty Maina, Kenya’s Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development minister also appointed an eight-member team to be part of the Committee of Senior Officials published in the Kenya Gazette.

The council will be chaired by the Minister and its members include The Attorney-General (Paul Kihara), The Minister for the National Treasury and Planning (Ukur Yattani), Minister for the East African Community and Regional Development (Adan Mohamed ) and Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives ( Peter Munya).

On the other hand, the members joining the Committee of Senior Officials are Principal Secretaries from the ministries for Planning, National Treasury, Foreign Affairs, East African Community Affairs, Industrialisation, Agriculture, Crops Development and Agricultural Research, Livestock and Fisheries.  

It will be chaired by the Principal Secretary for Trade and Enterprise Development.

Kenya and the United Kingdom signed the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)  on the continuation of goods and services between the two countries in December 2021.

The agreement focuses on facilitating trade in goods, providing Kenya with duty-free and quota-free access to the UK market. 

Kenya, in turn, commits to a phased liberalization on trade in goods spread over 25 years but retains tariffs for some products deemed sensitive domestically.

Kenya is seeking to increase its annual earnings from its exports to the UK market to Ksh1 trillion from an average of Ksh40 billion annually.

The rest of the East African Community (EAC) trade bloc members, will be free to join the trade deal.