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Kenyan investors urge EAC to implement common market protocol

Xinhua, June 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenyan investors on Tuesday called on the East Africa Community (EAC) governments to fast-track implementation of regional Common Market Protocol to reap from enlarged emerging markets in the region.

Faiz Taib, Chief Operating Officer of Brookside East Africa, a regional dairy products company, said there is need to create a business-friendly environment in order to open up the growing market in the East African region, despite the impediments and challenges that hamper the anticipated growth of the economy in the region.

"There has been a concerted effort to have the region embraces the provisions of the Common Market protocol whose main objective was to accelerate economic growth," Taib told visiting East African Legislative Assembly members (EALA). "The private sector feels that the potential of the regional economic growth has not been fully utilized due to these challenges."

According to the government, regional integration provides a route to overcome the disadvantages of small economies by enlarging markets available to regional firms.

The EAC Customs Union was established in 2005, while the EAC Common Market was introduced in 2010. EAC Protocol will provide for the roadmap to member states to put in place necessary requirements and policies for a strong monetary union.

Taib said efforts have also been made to embrace development of the partner states through the attainment of the free movement of goods, persons and labor, which has so far yielded. Despite this, the letter and the spirit of this protocol lack the regional goodwill of some partner states, he added.

Taib said a firm of this stature is expected to have established ready markets across the East African region, especially having been in the industry for the last 22 years. This has not been the case despite the many efforts made by the investor, he stressed.

"However, how much the region has great potential to grow economy, there still exist bottlenecks that act as impediments to the anticipated growth," Taib said.

He explained that his firm exports only 3 percent of its production compared to the same industries in the Ugandan market which export 80 percent of its dairy produce. This, the officer said was due to chain of bureaucracies in the transportation and legal provision needed for the target market.

Brookside, which has a 40 percent market share in Kenya, sells mostly long-life milk in Kenya and neighboring countries such as Tanzania and Uganda.

The EALA members assured the company of their great support and promised to keenly see to it that these challenges are addressed within the provisions of the Treaty.

The EALA Kenya Chapter Vice Chair Nancy Abysai said a bill has been drafted on the standards, quality and measurements and will be out for public participation before it's presented in the floor of the regional parliament. Endi