Trade among members of the East African Community (EAC) jumped by 27 % from USD 14.2 billion to USD 18 billion between June 2024 and June 2025, while total EAC trade with the rest of the world rose 22 % to USD 140.8 billion in the same period, officials told delegates at the 25th EAC Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Trade Fair in Nairobi.
Opened by Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto (also Chair of the EAC Summit of Heads of State), the trade‑fair running from 7 to 16 Nov. brings together more than 3,000 exhibitors from all eight Partner States under the theme: “25 Years of EAC Integration: Advancing Innovation and Regional Value Chains for Competitive MSMEs towards Sustainable Development.”
“Today we see a maturing internal market, one increasingly defined by innovation, competitiveness, and the shared determination of East Africans to trade more with each other and prosper together,” President Ruto said at the opening. “The conversations shaping this Trade Fair are ambitious and action‑oriented focusing on digital transformation, affordable finance, expanded markets, and green enterprise.”
The rising trade figures come amid efforts by the EAC Secretariat to deepen integration. According to its 2023 Trade & Investment Report, intra‑EAC trade accounted for just 15 % of total EAC trade in that year highlighting how the newly announced 27 % rise may signal accelerating progress.
At the ceremony, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSMEs Development, Wycliffe Oparanya, emphasised the need to strengthen access to finance for MSMEs and remove barriers to regional linkages. “We must prioritise enabling MSMEs to adopt technology, embrace e‑commerce, and embed sustainability in their business models,” he said.
Meanwhile, the EAC Deputy Secretary‑General for Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs, Annette Ssemuwemba Mutaawe, urged Partner States to shift the region’s export base from raw commodities to higher‑value manufactured goods.
“Manufactured exports currently account for less than 30 % of total exports, while 64 % of imports are manufactured goods largely from Asia. By deepening regional value chains and supporting MSMEs, we can reverse this trend and grow our own industrial capacity,” she stated.
Organised by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with the Confederation of Micro and Small Enterprises Organisation East Africa (CMSEO‑EA) and Partner States, the trade fair provides exhibitions, workshops and business‑to‑business engagements designed to build networks, explore technologies and expand market access. The event also recognised 16 “Women in Trade Champions” and 18 winners of the Regional Quality Awards, underscoring the role of women and innovation in regional business.
Despite the positive figures, analysts caution that formidable non‑tariff barriers remain including inconsistent customs procedures, rules of origin constraints and regulatory divergence among Partner States. The EAC Secretariat’s portal highlights that elimination of such non‑tariff barriers remains a central plank of its trade‑facilitation agenda.
For MSMEs in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, South Sudan and Somalia all EAC Partner States success in this regional push could mean greater access to a regional market of some 300 million people, improved intra‑regional linkages and reduced reliance on external markets. The commitments made at the fair point to a further step in that direction, though realising higher‑value manufacturing and cross‑border trade integration remains a long‑term endeavour.
