Europe Kenya

Negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement between the East African Community and the EU (EAC-EU EPA) were concluded in 2014. Kenya signed and ratified the Agreement in September 2016. The EU and its Member States also signed it in June 2016. However, implementation of the EPA has not been possible because not all EAC partner countries signed and ratified it.

The EAC Summit of 27 February 2021, under the chairmanship of Kenya, reached a decision allowing individual EAC states to implement the EPA. Subsequently, in May 2021, Kenya formally requested to engage with the EU to move forward with the implementation of the Agreement on a bilateral basis. Discussions on the bilateral implementation with sustainability provisions were politically concluded on 19 June 2023.

On 28 September 2023, the Commission submitted its proposals for Council Decisions on the signing and the conclusion of the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement, together with the text of the Agreement.

The Council adopted a decision on the signing of the EPA on 12 December 2023.

The EU and Kenya signed the agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 December 2023.

The European Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement on 29 February 2024 and Kenya ratified the EPA on 24 April 2024.

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SOURCE European Council