The Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU) and the East Africa Business Council (EABC) have urged Heads of States for the East Africa Community (EAC) to resolve the current political tensions between them that are limiting trade and movement of goods and people among the states.

The EABC executive director, Stuart Mwesigwa said while the EAC is one of Africa’s fastest-growing regional blocs that has made great progress in regional trade integration and promotion, the current political tensions between some countries is harming the private sector who can no longer trade and move freely around the community which was the main objective for the formation of the bloc

“There have been milestones like the establishment of the single customs territory and one stop border posts (OSBP) which should have eased movement of persons and goods as well as trade facilitation. However, there are still major challenges like Non-Tariff Barriers, protectionist tendencies by nations, delays in harmonization and domestication of EAC agreed decisions and directives,” he said

The ED PSFU Gideon Badagawa said tissues like closure of the border by Rwanda, persistent internal conflicts in Burundi and Congo, the Ebola scare in Congo, refusal of Ugandan goods over standards in Kenya and Tanzania among other issues are undermining the possible great achievement of the EAC bloc

“The EAC should be people centered, it should be private sector-led. For us we do not care about the politics, what we care about is having a market for our goods and services. We hope the heads of states will soon find solutions to the challenges that are facing the community,” he said.

This was at the launch of the High -Level Business and Investment Summit that will be held alongside the EAC heads of State Summit on the 28th to 29th November in Arusha Tanzania

The Summit is organized by East Africa Business Council (EABC) in partnership with the EAC Private Sector Foundations, and EAC investment Promotion Agencies Under the theme Private Sector Driven Regional Integration for Increased intra-EAC trade and investments”

The Summit will also make the celebration of the 20 years since the revival of EAC under the theme “people centered, private sector- led’.

“We look forward to engaging with all the Heads of States in this summit so as to come up with solutions to increase intra-EAC trade, investments and industrialization as well as the position of the EAC in light of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” Mwesigwa said

Source: Chimp report

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