Egypt announces continuation of exempting its exports from customs duties for Kenyan market

CAIRO – 7 July 2021: Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea announced that Egyptian exports to the Kenyan market will continue to be exempted from customs duties for a year, starting in early July.

The ministry explained in a statement, Tuesday, that the exemption came within the framework of the exception granted by the East African Union to the states of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, which are members of the union, and the COMESA grouping to grant the rest of the COMESA member states a comprehensive customs exemption.

The minister said that the Egyptian commercial office in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, received an official letter from the Kenya Revenue Authority stating that Kenya had obtained the approval of the East African Community (EAC) to extend customs exemptions granted to member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa for a period of one year.

For his part, Ahmed Maghawry, Head of Commercial Representation, confirmed that the Egyptian Commercial Office in Kenya is in constant contact with the concerned Kenyan authorities to follow up on the position of exempting Egyptian exports exported to the Kenyan market from customs duties, especially since the previous exception granted to Egypt expired on June 30.

He pointed out that this procedure contributes to the continuation of the movement of Egyptian exports to the Kenyan market, especially as it is one of the most important receiving markets for Egyptian exports in the COMESA countries and the East African region, which sends a message of reassurance to the Egyptian exporters dealing with the Kenyan market.

Maghawry added that the total Egyptian exports to the Kenyan market amounted to about $448.5 million in 2020, with an increase of 5.3 percent over 2019, noting that the most important items of Egyptian exports to Kenya include sugar, detergents, cement, iron and steel, machinery, equipment and electrical appliances.

Comesa is a free trade area that was founded in 1994 and its headquarters is in the Zambian capital Lusaka.
 

In addition to Zambia, Comesa comprises Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Malawi, Madagascar, Rwanda, Burundi, Comoros, Libya, Uganda, Seychelles, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Somalia, and Tunisia.