{"id":95604,"date":"2023-06-19T18:05:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T18:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa"},"modified":"2023-06-19T18:27:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T18:27:41","slug":"kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa","title":{"rendered":"Kenya signs EU trade deal boosting Brussels’ ties in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>Kenya and the European Union signed a trade agreement on Monday at a ceremony in Nairobi, the first major deal since 2016 with an African country where Brussels is seeking to forge closer economic ties and counter Chinese appetite.<\/b><\/p>\n

Kenya and the European Union have signed a trade deal in a coup for Brussels as it seeks deeper economic ties with Africa in the face of competition from China.<\/p>\n

Kenyan President William Ruto presided over a ceremony in Nairobi on Monday to mark the formal conclusion of negotiations for the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement.<\/p>\n

Once ratified and entered into force, Kenya will receive duty-free and quota-free access to the EU, its biggest market where it sends roughly one-fifth of all its exports.<\/p>\n

Imports from the EU to Kenya such as chemicals and machinery will receive progressive tariff reductions over a period of 25 years, but some sensitive products will be excluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a very proud moment for Kenya, and I believe a very proud moment for the European Union,\u201d Kenyan Trade Minister Moses Kuria said after signing the accord with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s main exports to the EU are agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits and the country\u2019s famous tea and coffee.<\/p>\n

More than 70 percent of Kenya\u2019s cut flowers are destined for Europe.<\/p>\n

Ruto, who said the EU was \u201cthe second most important development partner for Kenya after the World Bank\u201d said the country\u2019s farmers could be \u201cassured of a predictable market\u201d and the agreement provides new opportunities to boost this trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ensures a stable market for industrialists, for our farmers, and also industrialists in the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dombrovskis said EU companies had invested 1 billion euros ($1.1bn) in Kenya in the past decade, but that there was \u201ca strong appetite\u201d to do more business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this deal in place, we have the right platform to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It is the first broad trade deal between the EU and an African nation since 2016 and follows a spending spree by China on lavish infrastructure projects across the continent.<\/p>\n

The EU has taken steps to counter China\u2019s Belt and Road program, announcing in February it would increase investments in Kenya by hundreds of millions of dollars through its own Global Gateway initiative.<\/p>\n

It is part of a trend of African nations being wooed by Western partners in recent years as Russia and China increasingly gain a foothold in Africa.<\/p>\n

Dombrovskis said the East African powerhouse was \u201ca beacon of dynamism and opportunity\u201d, echoing the international perception of Kenya\u2019s relative stability in what remains a turbulent region.<\/p>\n

In a briefing with reporters before Monday\u2019s ceremony, Dombrovskis said Africa was a \u201cpriority region\u201d for the EU, and he hoped the Kenya deal would \u201cbe a boost\u201d to future trade links with Africa.<\/p>\n

The Kenya deal is the culmination of trade talks between the EU and the East African Community (EAC) that started roughly a decade ago.<\/p>\n

In 2014, the EU and the EAC, then Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania finalized negotiations for an economic partnership agreement, but only Nairobi ended up ratifying it.<\/p>\n

Kenya went its own way, but Dombrovskis said the agreement remained open for other members of the EAC, which now includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, to join.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenya and the European Union signed a trade agreement on Monday at a ceremony in Nairobi, the first major deal since 2016 with an African country where Brussels is seeking to forge closer economic ties and counter Chinese appetite. Kenya and the European Union have signed a trade deal in a coup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[6857,7003,8672,1966,10384,544,382,312],"class_list":["post-95604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-brussels","tag-european-union","tag-foreign-trade","tag-kenya","tag-nairobi","tag-william-ruto"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya signs EU trade deal boosting Brussels' ties in Africa - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kenya and the European Union signed a trade agreement on Monday at a ceremony in Nairobi, the first major deal since ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya signs EU trade deal boosting Brussels' ties in Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenya and the European Union signed a trade agreement on Monday at a ceremony in Nairobi, the first major deal since ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-19T18:05:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-19T18:27:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/06\/sm_1687182958.185617.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenya signs EU trade deal boosting Brussels’ ties in Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-19T18:05:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-19T18:27:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\"},\"wordCount\":575,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2023\/06\/sm_1687182958.185617.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Brussels\",\"European Union\",\"Foreign trade\",\"Kenya\",\"Nairobi\",\"William Ruto\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/kenya-signs-eu-trade-deal-boosting-brussels-ties-in-africa\",\"name\":\"Kenya signs EU trade deal boosting Brussels' ties in Africa - 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