At Last, Common Market Becomes Reality

2009-11-24

The East African Community officially ushered in a common market on Friday amid renewed commitment by the region’s Heads of State to expedite the envisaged political federation by 2015.

The Common Market Protocol was finally signed in Arusha, Tanzania, bringing to an end months of waiting and anxiety.

Contentious issues nearly derailed the negotiations and the signing was pushed to this month from April.

At a colourful ceremony to mark the bloc’s 10th anniversary which coincided with the bloc’s Common Market deal, the chair of the EAC Council of Ministers, Monique Mukaruliza, urged partner states to expedite its ratification at national level by the scheduled July 1, 2010 date.

Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania) and Abeid Amani Karume (Zanzibar) nodded as Ms Mukaruliza said the ball was now in the nations’ court. She said

She said Rwanda was the only country in the region with a fast ratification policy, with Tanzania taking the longest time, of four months.

Despite the disparities, she said, the EAC ministers had agreed to work closely with the respective countries to push the necessary ratifications within the shortest time.

Source: Allafrica

 

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