The East African Community has drafted a new blueprint to guide its efforts to market the region as a single source of exports.

The EAC Export Promotion Strategy 2013-2017 is ready for implementation this year and has four pillars.

The blueprint is intended to enhance business synergies among the five partner states to develop EAC as a single source of goods and services.

The focus of the strategy will be promotion of the production of diversified and high value products from the partner states. This is expected to increase access to international markets for increased export growth and reducing cost of doing business in the region.

“This strategy is expected to transform and position the EAC at the global stage as a competitive and dynamic export-led region,” said EAC Secretary General Richard Sezibera.

Implementation of the proposed strategy will involve EAC Secretariat, donors, regional institutions, government departments and public sector and private sector organisations for a period of five years.

It’s estimated that successful implementation of the plan will require at least $83.6 million.

The draft has four crucial pillars, which are production, marketing, business environment and institutional capacity building.

The production pillar focuses on building of regional structures to encourage adoption of technologies and availing affordable finance to facilitate export diversification and development.

The marketing pillar emphasises the need to finalise strategic partner negotiations, enabling exporting firms to meet high value export markets and EAC trade promotion organisation, market penetration and cooperation in strategic sectors and markets.

The third pillar will see infrastructure development to increase competitiveness through reduction in cost of power, elimination of non tariff barriers, harmonising and strengthening of institutional regulatory frameworks to reduce cost of doing business within the EAC.

The fourth pillar will address institutional and capacity, where export promotion agencies in partner states are to be strengthened to effectively execute their mandate.

The review of the region’s exports and imports trends shows that EAC imports more than it exports to the rest of the world.