Another round of negotiations on the establishment of the proposed East African Community (EAC) Common Market opened here on Monday with renewed commitments of reaching an agreement by the end of this year.
Gagawala Wambuzi, Uganda's minister of state for trade, while opening the ten-day talks, appealed to member states to put aside their national fears and focus on the common future of the region.
He appealed to states to exercise maximum understanding and patience with others that have different views.
"It is our hope that during this Kampala session you move quickly to the outstanding issues, right of establishment and residence, and agree on the pending issues of Tanzania's comments, so as to move ahead," he said.
Tanzania, a member of the regional bloc bringing together, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, expressed concern among other issues the unleveled labor market it would face when the common market comes into existence.
Julius Onen, deputy secretary general of the EAC in charge of projects and programs said that states have agreed on most of the contentious issues, covering up to 70 percent of the EAC Common Market Protocol.
"The negotiators have agreed on the four basic principles of the common market, free movement of goods, labor, services and the right to residence," he said, noting that there are only few paragraphs of the right of residence that they are working on.
He said the rest of the pending issues, transport policy, economic and monetary policy coordination, competition and other common rules are less contentious and will be covered in a short time.
The Kampala round of negotiations followed the second and third rounds that were held this year in Nairobi, Kenya and in Bujumbura, Burundi respectively.
The Common Market Protocol negotiations are scheduled to end in December 2008 and the protocol ratified in June 2009. The official launch is set for January 2010.
Source: Xinhua
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