Kenyan exports to keep duty-free access to EU market

Kenya will keep duty-free access to European Union markets for its products, the Kenyan trade minister said on Thursday, reassuring exporters who feared a foundering deal between the EU and the East African Community could lead to tariffs.

Kenyan businesses were alarmed by delays in signing the trade pact, known as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), between the EU and five-nation East African Community (EAC), after reservations raised by Tanzania.

Kenya stood most to lose as it would have lost duty- and quota-free access, whereas other EAC member states are categorised as poorer nations who keep that access whether or not the more comprehensive trade deal is signed.

“Come next week Kenyan exports will still have access to the EU market without paying any duties as it was before,” Adan Mohamed, the Kenyan minister for trade and industrialisation, told Reuters.

Kenya, which exports coffee, tea and horticultural products to Europe, secured the continued free access to EU markets after it signed the deal with the EU, despite Tanzania holding back.

Kenya has also already ratified the pact in parliament and presented a copy to the European Union in Brussels on Wednesday.