NAIROBI (AFP) — The Kenyan government on Thursday urged Africa's main trading bloc to hasten steps towards creating a customs union in a bid to overcome problems that have dogged the region.
Ministers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) met in Nairobi to assess progress made by the creation of a common external tariff system that was agreed last year.
"I am glad that member states are in the process of aligning their national tariffs on the Common External Tariff adopted by the last summit of the COMESA Authority, it is imperative that we maintain a common purpose and vision as we have previously done," Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said.
Outgoing COMESA chief Erastus Mwenja urged the bloc to push for its rightful role in the global economy by enhancing the competitiveness of its industries.
"We need to be part of the global economy (...) Africa must go for unity and for that matter economic integration," Mwenja told reporters.
Under last year's deal, every COMESA member should apply the same tariffs on goods from outside the region, allow free movement of capital goods and raw materials and impose a 10 percent tax for intermediate products and 25 percent for finished goods.
The 19-member bloc plans to launch a customs union at the end of 2008, but experts have warned the deal may be delayed by some member states who fear their weaker economies could collapse.
When it was founded in 1993, COMESA, representing some 400 million people, aimed for a free-trade zone for all member countries from 2000, evolving into a customs union by 2004 with monetary union to follow by 2025.
But it has fallen short of its plans, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Swaziland and Uganda yet to participate in the free-trade zone.
Kenya Trade Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said COMESA members were in talks with Zimbabwe to see when the troubled southern Africa nation can hold the bloc's delayed summit.
"We are in consultations both with the secretariat and the Zimbabwe government to see at what stage that summit may be held so that the business of COMESA can continue," Kenyatta added.
COMESA groups Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, the DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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