Trade is not the destination. It is the vehicle. Trade has given East Africans a practical reason to believe in integration. When a young trader in Busia, Arusha or Goma has money in her pocket, poverty retreats, extremism loses its recruits, and @jumuiya integration stops being a summit declaration and becomes a daily reality. Yesterday, I joined the @TheJNLC Pan-African Symposium at @Makerere for the panel on “Interrogating the Key Elements of EAC Integration and Youth Participation,” moderated by Dr. Herman Butiime. My submission was that trade has been a central driver of @jumuiya integration. Citizens feel its value when they find customers across borders, source from neighbouring countries and earn a living through regional value chains. That everyday interdependence builds the foundation for deeper political integration, and the consultations on an EAC Political Confederation give citizens, including young people, a chance to shape that future. The economic potential is clear. In Q1 2026, EAC international merchandise trade rose 30.7% to US$46.3 billion. Exports grew 33.3%, outpacing imports at 28.1%, for a trade surplus of US$1.6 billion. The next task is to expand trade among East Africans themselves. Where do young people fit in? They are the heartbeat of EAC economic integration. They consume, produce, transport, innovate and connect businesses to customers. Women have long sustained informal cross-border trade but young traders are increasingly catching up, and supporting young traders, including young women, must be central to the next phase. But ambition alone cannot finance a business. I called on @jumuiya governments to expand financing for young entrepreneurs, with realistic collateral and repayment terms, alongside practical support to formalise, raise production, improve quality and meet regional standards. With an EAC population of about 331 million, the market is there. Our job is to make young businesses capable of serving it. Comrades, trade is a means to an end. It is how we take on poverty, raise our quality of life and grow our contribution to East Africa’s social and economic development. When young people have viable livelihoods and a stake in their communities, we also strengthen resilience against exclusion and recruitment into violence. Intra-EAC trade still falls short of its potential even though it is stronger than in most of @_AfricanUnion’s other RECs, held back by trade barriers, inconsistent regulations, infrastructure gaps and limited finance. The Youth in Trade Charter developed by CBTA and facilitated by @AGRA_Africa and @ICOYACA, aims at reducing some of the Non-tariff barriers because again, our demographic dividend will come from what we enable young people to do. #JNLCSymposium2026