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(DAILY MAIL) Zambia undecided over customs union

Zambia undecided over customs union
By NANCY MWAPE

ZAMBIA is still undecided whether to join the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) customs union scheduled for next month. Commerce, Trade and Industry, permanent secretary, Davidson Chilipamushi said Zambia’s joining of the COMESA customs union was dependant on the outcome of the ministerial meeting scheduled to take place before the summit next month.

Mr Chilipamushi said this in an interview yesterday in Lusaka. He said the council of ministers would have to agree on a number of issues including the roadmap of the customs union.

“COMESA has to define itself as a customs union this December according to the road map but they also have to take into consideration the Kampala Declaration at the tripartite meeting Uganda last month.’’

Last month during a tripartite meeting for COMESA, Southern African Development Community(SADC) and East African Economic Community (EAC) adopted the Kampala Declaration to create a free trade area for the three regional blocs that encompass 24 countries.

He said COMESA member States have to agree on the common external tariffs, rules of origin for goods and revenue sharing principles for member states.
Mr Chilipamushi said most countries within SADC, COMESA and EAC were already in FTAs.

He said the aim is ultimately to move towards the Abuja Treaty, which declares that the regional groupings be used as a building block for the African Union.

He said having a FTA among SADC, COMESA and EAC was one step that would embrace a lot of countries to fulfill the one Africa dream.

“With this development, the debate to fall for one regional grouping automatically falls off. The argument is no longer valid,’’ he said.

Mr Chilipamushi said the benefit of having FTA among COMESA, SADC and EAC is the creation of bigger market for everyone.

He said companies would also maximise their economies of scale because of greater market.
The declaration would also facilitate free movement of people in the region.

Mr Chilipamushi said with the FTA, there would be need to harmonise procedures for documentations and other formalities to facilitate free movement of individuals.

Labels: COMESA

posted by MrK @ 5:12 PM