Monday, April 18, 2011

EAC Summit Meets in Dar es-Salaam

The 9th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State is scheduled to begin on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Among the items on the agenda are: appointment of a new Secretary General who will come from Rwanda, a new Deputy Secretary General and a new Judge of the East African Court of Justice; consideration of a Report of the Council of Ministers on the proposed EAC Single Customs Territory; consideration of the Way Forward on the Political Federation; consideration of a Report of the Council of Ministers on the Implementation of the EAC Food Security Action Plan (2010- 2015) and the EAC Climate Change Policy; and lastly consideration of a Report of the Council of Ministers on the East African Development Bank.

In an interview with the permanent secretary in the Rwandan Ministry of East African Community affairs, Robert Ssali, he pointed out the achievements and the challenges of the EAC. Ssali notes the revival of the EAC has been the greatest achievement yet and the fact that 10 years down the line, out of the four pillars of integration of the community-the customs union, common market, monetary union and political federation, the community is now on the second pillar-the common market.

Other challenges that have been cited are with regard to non tariff barriers to trade. Non-tariff barriers are A form of restrictive trade where barriers to trade are set up and take a form other than a tariff. Nontariff barriers are another way for an economy to control the amount of trade that it conducts with another economy.

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