[Ip-health] US holds trade and investment talks with EAC

[peter maybarduk]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
 From USTR's weekly newsletter:

United States Holds Trade and Investment Talks with the East African
Community
February 10, 2010

Kampala, Uganda - United States and East African trade and
development officials met today in Kampala, Uganda to discuss
implementation of the United States-East African Community (EAC)
Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).  The TIFA provides a
forum for advancing cooperation on trade and investment issues
between the United States and the five EAC member states - Burundi,
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The meetings, which were co-led by Deputy United States Trade
Representative Demetrios Marantis and Ugandan Minister of State for
Trade Gagawala Wambuzi, were the first held under the TIFA's
bilateral Trade and Investment Council (TIFA Council), which
identifies opportunities and provides a forum for addressing
challenges in the U.S.-EAC trade and investment relationship.  The
TIFA Council included trade ministers from EAC countries, senior
representatives from the EAC Secretariat, and a U.S. delegation of
senior officials from the Office of the United States Trade
Representative, the Departments of State, Agriculture, and
Transportation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The TIFA Council examined U.S. and EAC work on implementation of the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and issues related to
market access, trade capacity building, the financial sector,
agricultural trade, and the business environment.

"The EAC is one of the leading regional economic organizations in sub-
Saharan Africa.  It is making significant progress in opening up
regional trade and advancing economic integration among its members,"
said Ambassador Marantis.  "The EAC is an important partner on trade
and development issues, and the United States is supporting its
efforts to create a unified regional market and use trade to bolster
economic development.  Today's TIFA Council meeting was an important
step toward deepening the U.S.-EAC trade and investment relationship,
expanding and diversifying bilateral trade, and improving the climate
for business between U.S. and East African firms."

The TIFA Council meeting provided the opportunity to set priorities,
identify objectives, outline impediments, and chart the way forward
for work under the TIFA.  The TIFA Council adopted a common plan of
work that the United States and the EAC will jointly undertake in
order to implement the TIFA.

Background

On July 16, 2008, the United States and the EAC signed the United
States-EAC TIFA in Washington, D.C.  Trade ministers and other senior
officials from the five EAC member states - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania, and Uganda - witnessed the signing.

The U.S.-EAC TIFA establishes regular, high-level talks on the full
spectrum of United States-EAC trade and investment topics, including
AGOA, the World Trade Organization's Doha Round, trade facilitation
issues, and trade capacity building assistance.  The EAC has made
great strides in recent years toward integrating the economies of its
member states.  It has established a free trade area and a customs
union, and is working toward a common market.

Total two-way trade between the East African Community and the United
States was valued at $1.4 billion in 2009, a 13.6 percent increase
over 2008.  The leading U.S. exports to the EAC are aircraft,
machinery, vegetables, grains, and communications equipment.  U.S.
imports from the EAC include apparel, coffee, tea, and cashews.  In
2009, U.S. imports from the EAC under AGOA, including its GSP
provisions, were valued at $210.7 million, a 19.0 percent decrease
over 2008.