KAMPALA, Uganda — The East African Community and Southern African Development Community will convene a high-level policy dialogue Dec. 11-12 in Uganda to address European Union agricultural trade regulations affecting African exports.
The dialogue at Speke Resort Hotel in Munyonyo aims to examine implications of EU regulatory frameworks including the EU Green Deal, EU Deforestation Regulation, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and sanitary and phytosanitary standards on Africa’s coffee and broader agricultural value chains.
The EU accounts for approximately one-third of Africa’s total trade, absorbing 33% of African exports and supplying 31% of imports.
However, 68% of EU exports to Africa consist of manufactured goods while manufactured products represent only 34% of Africa’s exports to the EU.
African agricultural exports to the EU remain dominated by raw and semi-processed commodities, particularly coffee, tea, cocoa, fruit and horticultural products.
The EUDR, binding from December 2025 for most operators, will directly affect key African commodities including coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber and palm oil.
Jane Nalunga, executive director of Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute, said compliance offers opportunities for digital traceability systems and climate-smart certification but poses risks for smallholder farmers lacking necessary digital infrastructure and financing.
“Without coordinated national and regional responses, value chains that demonstrate strong economic potential such as coffee face risks of market exclusion, price penalties, or diminished competitiveness in the EU market,” organizers said.
The dialogue will bring together EU Members of Parliament, ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly members, EAC and SADC representatives, private sector actors and producers.
Ambassador Jan Sadek, head of the European Union Delegation to Uganda, and Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, deputy speaker of Uganda’s Parliament and president of the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States Parliamentary Assembly, will deliver opening remarks.
Sessions will cover the role of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, EU regulatory shifts, Africa’s trade structure, value addition strategies and sustainable supply chains.
Participants will develop actionable policy recommendations for harmonizing EAC and SADC compliance systems and mobilizing technical and financial support for smallholders.
-Africabrief
