EAC to Harmonise Trade Pacts
(PANA)--The 10th East African Community (EAC) ordinary summit held at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania, late Wednesday ended with an agreement on a programme of harmonisation of trade agreements among the member countries.
The leaders also agreed on the free movement of business people, joint implementation of interregional infrastructure programmes as well as institutional arrangements, which the members would use to foster cooperation, according to Kenya’s Presidential Press Service. The summit was attended by President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, the host, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the current EAC chairman.
The summit agreed that the protocol on common market should not contain provisions, which seek to give authority to override national policies and laws. In a joint communiqué read by the Secretary General of East Africa Community Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, the leaders expressed satisfaction with the pace of ongoing negotiations on EAC common market. Addressing the opening session, Kagame called on member countries to expedite the process of negotiations on all outstanding issues to hasten full integration of the East African Community.
The summit also received a report of the national consultative process on fast tracking of the political federation conducted in Rwanda and Burundi. Also tabled was another report from the council of ministers relating to a proposal on transforming the African Union Commission into the African Union Authority
In the communiqué, the leaders stated that the establishment of the African Union Government should be gradual and that the Regional Economic Communities should be strengthened as building blocks towards the realisation of a continental political integration. The summit thanked their Tanzanian counterpart, President Kikwete for hosting the summit and the warm and cordial hospitality extended to them.
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