The East African Community is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States that will remove uncertainties surrounding the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
The five member states have submitted their request to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modalities and the time to start negotiations on the pact.
According to EAC Director General of Customs and Trade Peter Kiguta, the USTR is expected to present the request at the next US Congress meeting. If accepted, the region expects to increase the volume of trade and the number of products exported to the US.
"For EAC partner states to expand their trade partnership with the US market, there has to be a reciprocal free trade agreement like the one with the European Union," said Mr Kiguta. "The challenge with Agoa is that it is unilateral; it can be withdrawn any time and the 10-year period is very short and limiting for trade. So we need to have a long-term trade partnership that is more predictable," he added.
Peter Njoroge, the director of economics at Kenya's Ministry of EAC Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, said that the East African countries have not been able to fully utilise the US quota-free market under Agoa because the agreement does not comply with the World Trade Organisation's framework for free trade agreements because of its 10-year period of operations.
With a preferential trade partnership like the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Mr Kiguta said member states will be protected from undue competition, and that producers of the most sensitive goods -- mainly agricultural goods -- will enjoy protection from competition with US imports.
The Agoa pact has been renewed for a further 10 years starting this October. The current agreement expires at the end of September.
It accords preferential market access system to 39 countries in sub Saharan Africa, including all the East African countries.
