By EDWIN OKOTHMore by this AuthorEast African presidents are expected to meet Friday in Arusha for the 20th Summit of the EAC Heads of States, an event they cancelled twice last year. Ministers from the region on Wednesday held a meeting in preparation for the event just a day after principal secretaries concluded theirs on Tuesday at the same venue. The heads of states will be looking into reports on how previous decisions by the councils have been implemented with trade and regional politics expected to be heavy on the agenda. The region has been recording a decline in intra-regional trade due to the existence of various non-tariff barriers (NTBs) created by member states to discourage imports from neighbours. Total trade in the EAC registered a decline of 19.5 per cent to $44.6 billion in 2016 from $55.4 billion in 2015, according to the EAC Trade and Investment Report 2016 partly due to persistent NTBs in the region.

Source: Daily Nation January 31, 2019 19:04 UTC