The East African Community (EAC) is scheduled to hold its eighth
summit on Nov. 30 for the heads of state from Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda.
The annual summit will be held in Arusha where the regional
economic integration bloc seats its headquarters, according to a
statement from the information and public relations department of
the community released on Thursday.
President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
of Uganda and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania will
attend the summit.
Pierre Nkurunziza, president of the Republic of Burundi, and
Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda, will also be
present at the summit, in that the EAC heads of state will consider
the accession into the community of these two countries.
The eighth EAC summit is expected to launch the 2006-2010
community development strategy as well as to consider proposals
from the EAC Council of Ministers on amending the Treaty for the
Establishment of the East African Community as regards multiple
membership to regional trading blocs in particular.
Apart from their own customs union launched in January last
year, Kenya and Uganda are also members of the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) while Tanzania is a member of
the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The East African Customs Management Act demands that the three
member states of the EAC pull before the end of this year out of
COMESA and SADC to focus on the East African Community Customs
Union.
The multiple membership issue will be debated in the East
African Legislative Assembly which is consisted of nine lawmakers
from each of the three member states.
The East African parliament will debate the multiple membership
issue on Dec. 5.
(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)
