A deal to eliminate import tariffs between Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda came into force on Saturday, marking the first major step to integrating the East African nations into a single economic and investment bloc.

The East African Community Customs Union is intended to promote regional investment by allowing businesses to set up shop in one country but enjoy duty-free access to all three, which have a combined population of 83-million.

Negotiations to set up the customs union began in 2000. Under the deal, tariffs between the three countries will be phased out over the next five years.

The agreement will also bind the countries to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from nations outside the union.

The customs union is the first major deal the three countries have reached since they recreated the East African Community in January 2001.

The community is a revival of the economic bloc formed after independence from Britain in the early 1960s that collapsed in 1977 amid internal bickering.

But the nascent customs union is already troubled by a dispute over Uganda’s demands for protection of some of its industries. The country has listed 174 items it wants protected, said Kenya’s independent newspaper, The Standard.

East African ministers failed to agree on the matter before the union was launched. They have formed a committee of nine experts to study ways of ending the dispute. – Sapa-AP

Source: IOL

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