{The Secretary General of the East African Community Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera held talks with the Executive Director of International Trade Centre, Ms. Arancha Gonzalez on the sidelines of the World Export Development Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
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The Secretary General briefed the ITC official on some of the current key priority focus areas for the Community under implementation namely; the Single Customs Territory; setting up the institutional framework to actualize the Monetary Union Protocol signed in November 2013; and infrastructure development with special focus on railways, ports and energy.
Ms. Arancha Gonzalez commended the EAC integration process and the Secretary General Amb. Sezibera for steering ably the regional initiatives. She noted that a lot was happening within the EAC and that the mindset had changed from “my market to EAC market”, from national to regional perspectives, adding that “It is no longer my country or my market but things are being seen from the regional perspective including trade and business”.
In regard to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Ms. Gonzalez said SMEs serve as the backbone of the economies of developing countries and their role is even more important in least developed countries, where they account for 80% of jobs across all economic groups, including women and youth.
She said SME competitiveness was a key factor in determining the region’s overall competitiveness and its ability to respond to international market demand.
The two officials explored possible areas for further collaboration and support that include support to the East African Women in Business Network and the East African Business Council; setting up a Trade/Market Intelligence and e-Registry Web Portals; and Tourism and IT. EAC and ITC technocrats have been tasked to work out in details the project areas and submit to the Secretary General by end of October 2014.
Earlier, the Secretary General took part in a Panel Discussion at the ongoing World Export Development Forum on the topic Boosting SME participation in trade through trade facilitation and regional integration.
Value chains present opportunities to SMEs to provide goods and services at specific points in the production and distribution process. Inputs into final goods and services cross borders multiple times. With a supportive business environment, SMEs are better placed to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
In this context, the Panellists, including Amb. Sezibera, examined the constraints for SMEs to enter and move up value chains, and discussed how to address trade facilitation, non-tariff barriers and how greater regional integration could make the difference.
EAC
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