Ministerial council lauds EAC Common Market proceedings

The East African Community (EAC) ministerial council has commended the regional common market successes. A statement from EAC secretariat, the regional ministerial council chairman, Eriya Kategaya, said: “Looking back to the ground we have covered since 1999, EAC has been successful and delivered well on its performance and promise towards a common market.” He added that the treaty for the establishment of the EAC set out that the Customs Union would be achieved within five years of signing the treaty. “However this was achieved in January 2005 and all indications are that the Customs Union is performing exceedingly well,” Kategaya explained while addressing the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya. He further said that the treaty undertook to establish a Common Market as the next stage after the Customs Union. The statement reads that the ministerial council was pleased and encouraged by the progress made in the consensus on the broad issues during the first meeting of Kigali common meeting negotiations despite Tanzania’s nonattendance. Adding that as negotiations resume in Nairobi later this month, the High Level Task Force is expected to make further progress. Kategeya further said with these achievements, the EAC has laid a solid foundation of mutual confidence among the partner states setting readiness of accelerating and deepening regional integration. He also revealed that last financial year, regional experts completed studies on the monetary union whose proposals will be considered by the regional governors of the Central Banks before the end of November 2008. Adding: “The Council is confident that these studies would further reinforce the ongoing achievements in the region’s macroeconomic convergence and quest for a fully liberalised Capital Markets and financial markets integration in East Africa.” Ends