ASKUL MOE RALLIES PRIVATE SECTOR TO UNLOCK $2.9 BILLION UNTAPPED INTRA-EAC TRADE AT 2026 BUSINESS SUMMIT.
BY NJOKI KARANJA Nairobi, February 24, 2026. The East African Community (EAC) must urgently dismantle persistent trade barriers and fast-track regional integration to unlock an estimated USD 2.9 billion in unrealized annual trade potential, Cabinet Secretary for EAC, ASALs and Regional Development Beatrice Askul Moe has said. Speaking during the East African Business and Investment Summit and Expo 2026 in Nairobi, Hon. Askul Moe—who also serves as Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers—challenged Partner States to confront long-standing bottlenecks that continue to suppress intra-regional trade, currently standing at 15 percent of total trade within the bloc. “The basic question remains—why have we not achieved this level of intra-regional trade over the last 20 years of implementing the Customs Union?” she posed, calling for what she termed an “honest conversation” on barriers that are within the power of member states to remove. The summit, convened by the East ...