EALA Speaker, Rt. Hon Abdirahin Abdi today met with Mr. Robert Scott, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the United States of America in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The US Envoy said his country was elated with the developments at the EAC and mentioned that the United States would continue to keep tabs on the progress of the integration process. Mr. Scott who was accompanied by the Embassy’s First Secretary in charge of the Political and Economic Section, Elizabeth A. Pelletreau, lauded the commitment of the Partner States in their quest to keep integration alive.
He noted that it was important for trade as a founding precept of the Customs Union to be at the forefront of the EAC as an economic bloc.
The EALA Speaker said the Assembly would continue to carry out its mandate as stipulated in the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community. He remarked that despite the challenges the region was facing, statistics showed that the Customs Union was indeed a success with recorded increase in volume in both the formal and informal trade sector.
He noted that the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) Initiative was already been piloted and that once in place, it would significantly improve trade. The Speaker added that EALA supported and was advocating for the formation of the EAC Customs Authority, which he said, would effectively manage issues related to customs. Towards this end, Rt. Hon Abdi pleaded for the operationalisation of the EAC Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing Act 2006.
‘Such an Authority existed in the original EAC and was most useful then. It would in my view do even much better today in this time and age with the advancement of Information and Communications Technologies’, the Speaker remarked. ‘There needs to be no fear, mistrust or suspicion among the Partner States’, he added.
On the Common Market, the Speaker once again urged Partner States to move with haste to implement the Common Market Protocol, noting that, there was not much significance to be proud of – two years after the Protocol was signed.
In this regard, Speaker Abdi said it was important for the Community to carry out a monitoring exercise to ascertain the degree of adherence to the laws and resolutions passed by EALA as well as that of the decisions passed by the Council of Ministers.
The Speaker maintained that there was need for all stakeholders to work together to sensitise the populace in a bid to strengthen the EAC.
‘As EALA, we have tried by holding rotational Sittings in the Partner States – but this is not enough, stakeholders can do more’ he added.
In attendance were the EALA Senior Research Officer, Charles Kadonya and Senior Public Relations Officer, Bobi Odiko.
The US envoy will tomorrow (March 27, 2012) call on the Secretary General of the EAC, Amb Richard Sezibera.
On May 19, 2010, Ambassador Alfonso E. Lenhardt, the Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Republic of Tanzania was also accredited as the US representative to the East African Community.
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For more Information, contact: Bobi Odiko, Senior Public Relations Officer; East African Legislative Assembly; Tel: +255-27-2508240 Cell: +255 787 870945, +254-733-718036; Email: bodiko@eachq.org Web: https://www.eala.org Arusha, Tanzania
