Henry Mukasa and Anne Mugisa
19 October 2008
Kampala — FOURTEEN heads of state, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and the new South African president, Kgalema Motlanthe, have confirmed their attendance of the Tripartite Summit that opens in Kampala on Wednesday.
The summit will for the first time bring together the 26 countries of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The leaders will discuss trade arrangements and infrastructural development aimed at harmonising commerce in the region and providing a panacea to the continent's under-development.
Minister for East African affairs Eriya Kategaya told journalists at the Media Centre on Friday that the five leaders of the EAC had confirmed their presence.
They are Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi).
Other leaders expected are the heads of state of South Africa, Sudan, Malawi, Madagascar, Zambia, Botswana, Seychelles, Egypt, Mauritius and Lesotho.
By press time, Zimbabwe's Mugabe had also notified that he was coming.
Kategaya, who was flanked by foreign affairs minister Sam Kuteesa, said economic integration was needed because no African country can single-handedly prosper.
"If you don't open up voluntarily and consciously, they will shut you up. Open up and emphasise your comparative advantage."
Kategaya pointed out that African economies were small compared to the world powers. "These are pygmy economies. One pygmy is taller than the other by one inch and claims he isn't a pygmy! These are economies that cannot supply basic needs of shoes, safe water, energy and food. We have areas which have never seen power since the world was created," Kategaya said.
Kutesa defended the sh2.9b expenditure on the summit. "The multiplier effect after spending this money on conferences is huge. Since we held CHOGM, we have received 100,000 more tourists and $300m additional in investment," he noted.
Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday, the Assistant Secretary General of COMESA, Stephen Karangizi, said the three regional communities were building blocks to a single economic community for Africa.
"As we are aware, poverty is pernicious and widespread in the continent, and the onus for its elimination rests on us.
The regional economic communities have a responsibility of spearheading continental integration and the elimination of poverty," he told the gathering at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
There was, therefore, need to harmonise policies, he stressed.
"History will judge us harshly if we continue to duplicate efforts and programmes, waste resources and opportunities and fail to make tangible progress in our quest to develop our countries and rid the continent of its not-so-honourable tag as the continent of the world's poor."
The chairperson of the EAC Coordination Committee, Charles Gasana, advocated for the region to rely more on trade than on aid.
"We have others to take advantage of our abundant resources in the name of trade, investment, aid and other catch-words," Gasana said. "We should aim at enhancing trade between ourselves and the international community to improve our wealth, employment and our overall economic well-being."
Karangizi outlined as key topics for discussion the facilitation of trade, rules of origin of products, customs valuation and documentation, customs laws and procedures, common tariffs, the elimination of non-tariff barriers, a common competition policy, safeguards and trade remedies, and services.
"The objective of the cooperation and harmonisation in the area of trade is to create a large free trade area, encompassing the members of the three regional economic communities," he concluded.
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This is going to be a business bonanza for Museveni Hoteliers Inc. You could say Museveni's dreams of being a hotelier mogul - his real dream occupation - have been realised. These meaningless meetings are just an excuse or ploy for Museveni and his cohorts to embezzle public funds. Their greed knows no bounds for its only a few months ago when they embezzled money under the pretext of holding CHOGM, Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting. One of Museveni's AIDES is serving time in a British jail in London for trying to extort money from a British firm that was… [Read Full Text]