East African countries to sign custom union protocol

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 13, 2003

East African countries to sign custom union protocol

Officials from East African Community (EAC) members have started their meeting on Wednesday for the preparation of the EAC Custom Union Protocol, which will be signed on Nov. 30.

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Officials from East African Community (EAC) members have started their meeting on Wednesday for the preparation of the EAC Custom Union Protocol, which will be signed on Nov. 30.

Deputy Secretary General of the EAC in charge of Finance and Administration Ali Mchumo said in Arusha in northern Tanzania that several meetings of senior officials of the three countries, namely Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, were underway to finalize the protocol.

The protocol, which will be ratified later by each of the threecountries, aims to facilitate trade and investments within the East African region through removal of tariffs.

Mchumo said under the protocol there would be no tariff for goods exported to Kenya from Tanzania and Uganda. On the other hand, tariffs would be imposed on Kenyan exports to Tanzania or Uganda.

The aim of this arrangement is to assist both Tanzania and Uganda to catch up with Kenya which is more industrialized compared with her two partner states within EAC, he explained.

Mchumo said that the East African states would have a common external tariff (CET) for goods imported from outside the region.

There would be zero tariff for raw materials, 10 percent for intermediate goods and 25 percent tariff for finished products.

He added that the East African heads of state agreed in Nairobi,Kenya, early this year that tariffs for finished products from outside the region would be reduced progressively to 20 percent infive year's time.

The signing of the protocol on Nov. 30, which has been designated EAC Day, will be preceded by the summit meeting of the heads of state of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda at the Arusha International Conference Center on the same day.

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