African leaders meet in Kampala

The East, Central and Southern African region is home to more than half Africa’s population. It is also home to 3 powerful regional economic and political organisations; the East African community comprising of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. COMESA countries comprising of 19 countries viz: Burundi, Egypt, Madagascar, Sudan Comoros, Eritrea, Malawi, Swaziland, D. R. Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Uganda, Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Libya, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

SADC (South African Development community) is the most powerful organisation. It comprises of: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius, D.R. Congo and Madagascar.

On Wednesday October 2008, 14 heads of state, including Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and the new South African president, Kgalema Motlanthe will converge in Kampala, Uganda’s capital to attend the Tripartite Summit that opens in Kampala.
For the first time the summit will bring together the 26 countries of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The leaders will discuss trade arrangements and infrastructural development aimed at harmonising commerce in the region and providing a panacea to the continent’s under-development.

According to Uganda’s daily New Vision Newspaper, Uganda’s Minister for East African affairs Eriya Kategaya told journalists at the Media Centre last Friday that the five leaders of the EAC had confirmed their presence. These are; Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi).

Other leaders expected are the heads of state of South Africa, Sudan, Malawi, Madagascar, Zambia, Botswana, Seychelles, Egypt, Mauritius and Lesotho. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe had also confirmed that he would attend.
Uganda’s minister of Foreign Affairs; Sam Kutesa defended the US $ 1.5million expenditure on the summit. “The multiplier effect after spending this money on conferences is huge. Since we held CHOGM, we have received 100,000 more tourists and $300m additional in investment,” he noted.

The chairperson of the EAC Coordination Committee, Charles Gasana, advocated for the region to rely more on trade than on aid. “We have others to take advantage of our abundant resources in the name of trade, investment, aid and other catch-words,” Gasana said. “We should aim at enhancing trade between ourselves and the international community to improve our wealth, employment and our overall economic well-being.”

Karangizi outlined as key topics for discussion the facilitation of trade, rules of origin of products, customs valuation and documentation, customs laws and procedures, common tariffs, the elimination of non-tariff barriers, a common competition policy, safeguards and trade remedies, and services.