Ms Shy-Rose Bhanji (Tanzania) termed the speech as enlightening and said it had laid ground on a number of important matters in the integration agenda. The Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, delivered the State of EAC Address on behalf of the President of Tanzania and Chair of the Summit of EAC Heads of State, President Magufuli, at the commencement of theMeeting of the 4th Session of the 3rd Assembly on March 8 in Dar es Salaam. In the speech, Mr Majaliwa gave a score-card on a number of areas related to the pillars of integration.
The speech highlighted the adoption of the use of One-Stop Business Posts (OSBPs) as a trade facilitation concept to minimise delays at the border posts and on the major corridors in the region.
The House was informed that out of the 15 borders earmarked to operate as OSBPs, seven had been completed and four others were operating as OSBPs using bilateral agreements.
Mr Abubakar Zein from Kenya reiterated that it was necessary for the region to contain corruption and remove bad governance in order to realise progress of the EAC, while Mr Mike Sebalu of Uganda termed disasters as a matter that the region must collectively address.
Ms Mumbi Ngaru termed sensitisation as fundamental, adding that there was need for more adequate funding, a sentiment that was echoed by Mr Bernard Mulengani and Mr Frederic Ngenzebuhoro as well.
On her part, Ms Judith Pareno said that East Africans continued to face a number of challenges at the borders citing frequent stop points by the authorities while Ms Dora Byamukama called for closer working relations between the Private Sector under the East African Business Council and the Assembly. The prime minister remarked that intra-EAC Trade was expected to register phenomenal increase in the next few years. On Infrastructure, it was stated that Partner States were actively engaged in the Standard Gauge Railway, with Kenya having completed coverage of about 200 km out of 472 kms of formation as of September, last year.
On the Common Market, the EAC Chair of Summit gave an account of achievements realised in the Partner States to date. He remarked that Burundi now recognises the academic qualifications, experiences obtained, licences and certifications obtained for the workers from other EAC Partner States.
Tanzania on its part has issued a total of 3,222 simplified Certificates of Origin were issued as at June 2015 as compared to 2,355 certificates issued in 2014. In Kenya, the prime minister said development of an SMS based NTBs Reporting System to facilitate reporting and subsequent elimination of NTBs had been initiated.
The Republic of Rwanda, according to the Chair of the Summit, had eliminated all Non-Tariff Barriers and further harmonised demographic and social statistics for undertaking agricultural surveys and census.
He added that all the initiatives were geared towards enhancing the Common Market Protocol. In Uganda, the value of goods from other Partner States accorded zero-tariff treatment grew by 9 per cent while 360 EAC standards on traded goods had been adopted and were in application.
Source: Daily News

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