The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) on Monday started a view-seeking mission from the capital cities of the three member countries of the East African Community (EAC) on its envisaged common market.

The nine-man EALA committee started with Nairobi where the lawmakers would seek views from farmers, workers, business people, economists as well as politicians, according to reports reaching Dar Es Salaam from the headquarters of the East African Community in Arusha of northern Tanzania.

The committee is scheduled to visit Dar es Salaam of Tanzania between May 2 and 5 and to tour the Ugandan capital of Kampala between May 8 and 14.

The EALA is the legislative branch of the three-member EAC that was fully revived in 1999.

The heads of state from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have earlier this month approved the timetable for the establishment of the East African Common Market.

Cooperative ministers of these three countries have proposed to start negotiating on the formation of the common market on July 1 this year.

December 2008 has been proposed as the date for concluding and signing the common market protocol while June 2009 has been proposed as the date for parliamentary ratification of the protocol.

The common market is expected to come into being in January 2010.

The negotiations are expected to include as an integral part of the common market protocol free movement of persons, goods and services.

When fully formed, the EAC Common Market will be a regional integration bloc that boasts of a combined population of 90 million people and a total GDP of more than 30 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua