2023-12-18 20:16:56
What is the free trade agreement concluded between the EU and Kenya?
Qualified“historical” by Kenyan President William Roto and opening a “win-win situation” according to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the partnership signed on Monday December 18 by Brussels and Nairobi represents the first major agreement concluded between the EU and an African state since 2016. This new economic partnership opens up a access without quotas or customs duties to the European market, while European products destined for Kenya will benefit from tariff reductions.
The agreement should thus boost trade between the two markets, already in marked expansion with an increase of 27% since 2018 and reaching 3.3 billion euros in 2022. It also includes commitments in favor of development sustainability, environmental protection and labor law. According to a Commission press release, this involves “the most ambitious trade agreement signed to date between the EU and a developing country”.
What is the interest for both parties?
For Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, the EU represents more than a fifth of its exports, mainly agricultural products such as cut flowers, fruits, vegetables and even tea and coffee. By placing a “clear and sustainable legal framework” in EU terms, the agreement aims to strengthen the confidence of European investors in a country already recognized by the international community as a stable democracy within a region regularly shaken by political and military crises.
For Europeans, it is about re-weaving links in a “priority region” and to counter the growing influence of China, which is investing heavily there with its “New Silk Roads” program. In this competitive context, the EU launched its own investment and infrastructure project initiative in 2021 called “Global Gateway”, with a budget of 300 billion euros over six years and intended to finance projects in the whole world. The EU-Kenya agreement is part of the approximately 150 billion euros reserved for the African continent.
Why did the process take so long?
The new agreement is in fact the translation into bilateral terms of an economic partnership negotiated in 2014 between the European Union and the East African Community (EAC), then made up of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. But due to a lack of ratifications by all members of the EAC and against a background of concern over the consequences on local industry – the Kenyan parliament was at the time the only one to have approved the text – the agreement was not never entered into force.
However, unlike the other members of the EAC classified as “least developed countries” and thus benefiting from privileged access to the European market even in the absence of an agreement, Kenya is a middle-income country, a little richer. Under the principle of “variable geometry integration” approved by the EAC in 2021, Nairobi finally initiated individual talks with Brussels the same year.
Other EAC countries, however, remain invited to join the agreement. “The partnership we are signing today leaves the door open, and I mean wide open, to all our EAC partners said President Ruto during the signing ceremony in Nairobi. Before entering into force, the text must still be ratified by the European Parliament and its Kenyan counterpart.
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