Tuesday 16th April, 2019
East African business watchdog launches program to enhance trade ties
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DAR ES SALAAM, April 16 (Xinhua/GNA) – The East African Business Council (EABC), in collaboration with TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) has launched a program on public-private dialogue aimed at removing trade and investment barriers in the East African Community (EAC) region from 2019 to 2023.
A statement issued by the EABC at its headquarters in Tanzania's northern tourist city of Arusha on Monday said this partnership came at an opportune time when the EAC integration process will mark 20 years in November 2019 since the signing of the EAC treaty.
TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) is funded by a range of development agencies with the aim of growing prosperity in east Africa through trade.
The statement said dialogue between the private sector and the government is important in ensuring that protocols and policies work on the ground for EAC businesses.
"The program aims to enhance advocacy and dialogue on transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs and tax and standards," EABC CEO Peter Mathuki told the official launch of the program.
"The EABC will spearhead the program in close collaboration with all national and regional sectoral private sector associations in the EAC," he said.
The EABC will evaluate and monitor EAC policies to ensure they work for businesses at the ground level and create momentum for accelerating the policy reforms related to business and investment climate in the EAC, Mathuki said.
Allan Ngugi, TMEA's acting director for private sector advocacy, said public-private dialogue "can facilitate the trade and investment climate reforms by promoting better diagnosis of investment climate problems, transparency and inclusive design of policy reforms, making policies easier to implement."
GNA
