President William Ruto has heaped praises on Tanzania for overtaking Kenya in the intra-trade between the East African Community (EAC) member states.

Speaking in Arusha in Tanzania during the summit meeting of EAC heads of state, Ruto observed that the regional body had made tremendous progress since its revitalization in 1999.

“In the inter-trade between all countries, Kenya was the leading country in terms of goods and services that we trade in East Africa. Today, Tanzania has overtaken Kenya and I must commend them for the progress they are making and that the numbers are growing,” Ruto said.

Ruto also said during the summit that the East African Community was the leading trade block in the whole of Africa and was responsible for between 25-28 per cent of all trade in the continent.

“Of all the regional economic communities, EAC is the most progressive. Today, our intra-trade within EAC is between 25-28 per cent. That is the highest of any community in Africa. We are actually the trailblazers,” Ruto noted.

Ruto remarked that the East African Community members which include eight countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had to invest in regional security.

“It must be our collective responsibility to keep our region peaceful and to invest in the security and stability of our region,” Ruto added.

According to the Bank of Tanzania’s (BoT) latest figures, Tanzania exported more products to DRC than the original trade masters Kenya and Uganda.

Tanzania’s rise

This is despite that DRC joined EAC in 2022 to contribute to the shared market of at least 300 million people across the eight countries.

As the exports to DRC soared, the exports from Tanzania to Kenya declined from 6.7 per cent to 4.1 per cent between 2022 and 2024.

Among the top export products for Tanzania are rice, maize, cement, fertilizers and food beverages. However, Tanzania was a major importer of iron, pharmaceutical products, soap and detergents and beverages.

Also, Tanzania exported 14 per cent of its products to South Africa and India, while its exports to Burundi remained unchanged at 3 per cent.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni indicated that trade barriers should be removed if the purpose of a fully integrated EAC was to be achieved as envisaged by the region’s early founders.

The trading bloc was founded on June 3, 1963, by former Uganda president Milton Obote, former Tanzania president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and the founding Kenyan president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. It, however, collapsed and was revived in 1999 by former President Daniel Arap Moi and East African heads of state.