The Echoes from AEFJN No. 30 - July August 2016 are now available online. 
TRADE WORKING GROUP NEWS March 2014
1. EAC states fail to strike trade deal with Europe
The East Africa Community (EAC) and the European Union (EU) have failed to strike deal on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in the last negotiations held in Brussels. The two parties failed to agree on contentious issues of duties and taxes on exports and on Most Favoured Nations (MFN). Another ministerial meeting is now expected to be held within the region by March. Kenya stands to lose compared to other EAC member states such us Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, if the issue of taxes and duty on export is not solved by the end of October this year. Kenya is not listed as a Least Developed Country and as such will have its products attract a tax rate of up 16 percent on her exports to the EU.
2. Namibia Expects to Miss Deadline for Renewing Europe Trade Deal
Namibia won’t renew any trade deal with the European Union (EU) by the 1st of October 2014. This is the deadline imposed by the EU to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The EU has an inflexible position over food and agricultural imports. Moreover, this trade deal would put at risk its policy to strength the industry of the country and distort its commercial relationship with regional neighbors. Namibia wants safeguards in the food and agriculture industries to ensure that local producers don’t have to compete with subsidized goods from Europe. The EU has given Namibia and other African countries until Oct. 1 to negotiate new economic partnership agreements or risk losing the preferential market access granted in 2007.
3. Civil Society of Ghana against the EPAs
Pressure is mounting on West African leaders to reject the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). A day after Nigeria rejected the EPAs through its national consultation, representatives of faith-based organizations, trade unions, private organizations and other civil society organization in Ghana today also petitioned the President of Ghana to reject the EPA ahead of the Council of Ministers meeting in Cote d'Ivoire on the 25 and the 26th of March 2014. The CSOs have launched a statement with the longstanding position of the negative consequences of EPAs.
See attached document