7 May 2007, by Elly Wamari in Nairobi, Kenya. A major shift in the structure of trade between Kenya and the countries that make the European Union takes effect from January 1, 2008, if the schedule is not disrupted.
 
From the Kenyan point of view, the expiry of the 30-year-old ACP-EU Partnership Agreement at the end of this year signals some tough agricultural export challenges, while for the EU, this eventuality may imply an easier export penetration into African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
 
That is why Kenya"s trade and industry minister, Mukhisa Kituyi, and head of the European Commission to Kenya, Eric van der Linden, have lately been discussing the ACP-EU affair on opposite sides.
 
The deal between the ACP countries and the EU is a free entry of commodities from the ACP countries into the EU member countries, and a restricted access the other way round.
 
Known also as Cotonou Agreement, to which Kenya is party, the ACP-EU contract was established as some form of compensation for the effects of colonisation of ACP countries by European states. More importantly, the agreement was sealed to allow ACP countries a grace period within which to raise their economies to the level of being able to competitively gain entry into the global economy. Whether that has really been achieved is subject to a separate analysis.
 
The emergence of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) came with a requirement that preferential agreements such as the ACP-EU be closed at the end of 2007, and in their place, be introduced Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs).
 
EPA deals call for reciprocity, which in essence eliminates preferential treatments and advocates for similar handling of goods flowing in either direction of trading countries.
 
This is what Kituyi, Kenya"s trade minister, is apprehensive about. His argument is that economically stronger European states have the potential to flood the Kenyan market with possibly subsidised commodities, while Kenya, comparatively disadvantaged in terms of production costs, will have difficulty pushing its agricultural products into Europe once tariffs are introduced. The EU takes up about 98 percent of Kenya"s flower exports. Naturally, Kenya does not want difficulty in penetrating that market.
 
The other way Kituyi looks at EPAs is a loss of government revenue when tariffs chargeable to European goods entering the country are slackened in the reciprocity requirement. He is accordingly in support of thorough negotiations before the end of the year.
 
Linden, the EC boss in Kenya, on the other hand perceives EPAs as opportunities for mutual, lasting and friendlier trade relationships between countries because they will not be pegged on preferential conditions.
 
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