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East Africa: Fresh Push to Finalise Common Market Deal
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 7 May 2008
John Njiraini
Nairobi
East Africa Community (EAC) member countries will converge in Nairobi next week to push through a deal to establishment of a common market.
The high-level task force meeting is expected to discuss issues relating to right of establishment, right of residence, free movement of services, capital and transport across the region.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of East Africa Community David Nalo, said it is important for the member States to reach a consensus on outstanding issues, which are critical components of the EAC Common Market Protocol.
"These are fundamental pillars that we need to agree on to facilitate the formation of a common market," said Nalo.
The Nairobi meeting follows another meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda, in April that agreed on free movement of goods and labour across the five member states.
Tanzania, however, did not attend the Kigali meeting, further casting doubt on its commitment to the integration process.
The protocol is scheduled for ratification in June next year and the official commencement of the common market is set for January 2010.
Besides the Protocol, Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) also remain as one of the outstanding and sticky obstacle to speedy integration of region's economies.
Lack of an inventory on the types of NTBs that are common in the region has made it difficult for members to agree on a common regime.
Nalo revealed that a survey to document common NTBs in the region is underway with the support of the World Bank.
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"The findings will soon be presented for consideration by experts of the partner states," he said, adding the inventory is crucial because it will make the work of monitoring committees easy and realistic.
The EAC bloc boasts of a gross domestic product of $50.2 billion and a population of almost 120 million people.
The failure to effectively consolidate gains made by the three-year old Customs Union, which still faces teething problems, is expected to complicate matters for the common market.
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