The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the East African Community (EAC) yesterday announced that the two organizations are launching a new, joint project to boost intra- African trade. The Trade and Regional Integration Project (TRIP) for EAC was announced by the EAC Secretary-General Amb. Dr.
Richard Sezibera and ITC Executive Director Arancha Gonzalez
on the margins of the World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference that took place in Nairobi, Kenya December 2015.
The new initiative aims to strengthen existing efforts by East African Partner States for closer
economic integration, including the East African Customs Union and the EAC Common Market.
The TRIP for EAC project also sets out to support the African Union’s Action Plan for Boosting Intra- African Trade and the recently agreed tripartite free-trade agreement among the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the EAC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Specifically the project aims to boost the competitiveness of EAC- based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), enabling them to step up intra-and inter- regional trade. The project will have a strong focus on women’s economic empowerment, and will also support wider private-sector development in the EAC to spur deeper economic integration, including in agriculture, information and communication technologies (ICT), and tourism.
“Regional integration led by the private sector is a powerful vehicle for boosting growth, creating
jobs and promoting economic development,” Ms Gonzalez said. ‘Enabling the private sector and policymakers to take advantage of trade opportunities is at the heart of what ITC does. We are
looking forward to doing this in collaboration with the EAC, and to ensuring sustainable growth for East African countries and their SMEs.” Amb. Sezibera said: ‘This cooperation will contribute to improve the
global competitiveness of our region and to trigger sustainable economic growth. ‘Implementation of the five-year US$ 8.5 million TRIP for EAC project is set to begin in January 2016. The Government of Finland has pledged to provide initial funding.
ITC and the EAC will intervene at three levels to provide integrated solutions to problems of SME
competitiveness. At the enterprise level, they will work to enhance the
competitiveness of SMEs in selected sectors, with a strong focus on women entrepreneurs.
At the institutional level, they will work to strengthen trade and investment support institutions, enabling
them to better serve their SME clients, especially on export development and international marketing services.
Finally, at the trade policy level, the project will aim to enhance the business environment through improving trade facilitation and public-private dialogue to ensure that reforms correspond to business needs.
