East African Business Week

ARUSHA, TANZANIA - Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has said that the total volume of trade between the five East African Community (EAC) partner states has grown from a mere US$1.81b in  2004 to $3.54b by the end of 2009.
He attributed the growth in intra-EAC trade to the Customs Union whose implementation has been in effect over the last five years.
"The Customs Union has done very well, prior to its launch, the total intra EAC trade was $1.81b in 2004 and by 2009, the total intra EAC trade had grown to $3.54b," he said recently.
Museveni was represented by Uganda's Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi at the symposium of the special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) held last week in Arusha, Tanzania.
He said that implementation of the Customs Union meant that the partner states have got common external tariff for goods from third party countries, reduced non-tariff barriers and no import duty on goods produced and traded within the region.
"We are now aiming at the Monetary Union which means that a single currency becomes the language of trade," he noted.
He said the monetary and fiscal policy discipline built in Monetary Union anchors inflation and its expectation and hence entrenches macroeconomic stability. "It also ensures significant reduction of exchange rate volatility and associated risks within the region," Museveni said.
He said that the EAC is the only regional trading block that aims at both economic and political integration.
"EAC is the only trading bloc that aims at both economic and political integration according to Article 5 (2) of the EAC Treaty and it does not only aim at the Economic Integration but also the political integration of the East African peoples," her emphasized.
The President  said during a retreat held in 2004, him and former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki pushed the fast tracking of the political federation because economic integration, without political integration is slow.  
"When you are coordinating several sovereign units, it is bound to be slower than when you are planning for one unit," he noted. He added that it will also take longer for the benefits of integration to spread around the community evenly.   
"For example, freedom of movement of labour will take long to be realized if at all, yet employment creation is one of the greatest gains in an economic community area," he said.