Africa/EU relations to change trading, commercial rules
Tuesday, 16 Aug 2011
THE Eastern and Southern Africa - European Union (ESA-EU) negotiations will change the trading and commercial rules that have governed relations between the two regions for over 30 years, it has been noted.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Trade and Customs Committee Secretary General Dr Francis Mangeni told delegates during the 27th meeting of the Trade and Customs Committee at the Royal Villas yesterday that the ESA region was negotiating with the EU in all six clusters of services, development, fisheries, agriculture, market access and trade related issues.
He said these negotiations were of importance given that due to history, the EU was an important trading partner of the region.
Challenges
"These negotiations pose their own challenges as we deal with a much more developed region. What will emerge from these negotiations will shape the economic future of entire generations. Therefore, the current and future economic interest of our region should be clearly articulated in these negotiations," Dr Mangeni said.
Speaking on integration, he said the COMESA region followed a linear process of economic integration. He explained that the free trade area had been in operation since October 2000 and assisted phenomenal growth in intra-COMESA trade.
He noted that intra-COMESA trade increased three times from US$3.1 billion in 2001 to just over US$9 billion in 2007.
He said the figure rose to US$13.7 billion in 2008 and came down to US$12.7 billion in 2009.
"The decline was largely due to the global financial crisis. However, the growth in intra-COMESA trade has resulted in wealth creation and welfare gains as consumers get duty free COMESA originating goods.
"In 2010, the intra COMESA trade has re-bound to over US$17 billion which is testimony that the integration efforts are not in vain," said Dr Mangeni.
Transition to COMESA
Customs Union coming to an end
IT is now only less than a year before the proposed Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Customs Union becomes fully operational.
COMESA Customs Committee Secretary General Dr Francis Mangeni told delegates during the 27th meeting of the Trade and Customs Committee at the Royal Villas yesterday that the three-year transition period granted at the launch of the union in June 2009 was coming to an end. "The region has set itself a target of having a fully fledged customs union by 2012. The region also needs to progress in like manner in the liberalisation of trade in services to complement achievements that are being made in the liberalisation of trade in goods," he said.
Dr Mangeni noted that there had been demonstrable achievements in the integration process. He said in the area of Rules of Origin, a meeting of experts held in March reached an agreement on the outstanding chapters of which the networks and processing had not been agreed thereby preventing the full application of the Change in Tariff Heading Rule of Origin.
Committee
He said the committee on Science and Technology met and discussed important issues in this area. Other strides made, according to Mangeni, include putting in place of the Common Tariff Nomenclature (CTN), the Common External Tariff (CET), Customs Management Regulations, Regional Trade Policy and Common Valuation system.
"Member states are to domesticate these or migrate towards these regional instruments. Other elements such as the lists of sensitive products, national tariff alignment to the CET schedules, have been the pre-occupation of the member states since launch of the Customs Union," he said.
Customs Union will lead to
improved competitiveness
PRINCIPAL Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade Cyril Kunene has noted that the COMESA Customs Union will lead to more efficient allocation of resources, improved competitiveness through economies of scale leading to regional value chains and also strong negotiating position at the multilateral forum.
Officially opening the 27th meeting of the Trade and Customs Committee at the Royal Villas yesterday, he said the customs union would strengthen the bond between member states and strengthen their collective voice in international and bilateral negotiations. "The COMESA customs union builds on the success of the free trade area since it will further deepen regional integration and enhance overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth, increased productivity in various sectors and among these are agriculture, industry and services," he said.
Kunene said the current lack of concrete movement on the multilateral negotiations was the more reason why the region should forge stronger and deeper regional integration, so that firms in the region and foreign investors could take advantage of the bigger market.
"The debt crisis that is unfolding in some countries of the Eurozone should make us realise the utility of regional markets which we secure through deepening our integration. In addition, the integration has acted as an insurance policy during the international financial and economic crisis that had a negative impact on the economies of our countries. "The unification of regional markets through the customs union is the long term response since it will enhance the overall competitiveness of national economies and thus shield them from external shocks," said the PS.
