Comesa agrees on external tariffs

NAIROBI – Trade ministers of Comesa, whose members comprise 20-African nations, have agreed on a common external tariff system, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said on Friday.

He said under the accord, reached in Nairobi on Thursday, the common tariff will be 25 per cent for finished goods, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and zero for raw materials. The bloc also plans to launch a customs union in 2008, but Kenya earlier this year said it can only work if its neighbour Tanzania rejoins the bloc.Tanzania is currently a member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) economic bloc and quit Comesa in 2000, saying its businesses were too weak to compete in a free trade zone.Kenya and other Comesa members Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe have already joined the bloc’s free trade area (FTA).The remaining seven – Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Seychelles, Swaziland and Uganda – are yet to join the FTA.Some of them cite loss of revenues and competition from more advanced economies.Nampa-ReutersThe bloc also plans to launch a customs union in 2008, but Kenya earlier this year said it can only work if its neighbour Tanzania rejoins the bloc.Tanzania is currently a member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) economic bloc and quit Comesa in 2000, saying its businesses were too weak to compete in a free trade zone.Kenya and other Comesa members Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe have already joined the bloc’s free trade area (FTA).The remaining seven – Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Seychelles, Swaziland and Uganda – are yet to join the FTA.Some of them cite loss of revenues and competition from more advanced economies.Nampa-Reuters