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If you are a teacher looking for a job, a trader ready to do business or a citizen looking for residence, you can freely enter any of the five East African countries because the ground rules have been levelled, at least on paper.
Yesterday, the five EAC member countries; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi concurrently ushered in the long-awaited single market trading bloc - the Common Market.
140m-strong market
To an ordinary Ugandan, this means accessing a job, providing a service, moving freely, and accessing a market of about 140 million people in the region.
In his maiden remarks, EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu said there is a painful and lengthy process before all the benefits of this new era can be enjoyed by all the citizens in the region.
“The EAC Common Market is finally here. It ushers in a higher level of integration beyond trade in goods which the Customs Union caters for, with positive impact on the economies of the Partner States as reflected by growing intra-regional trade in the past five years.”
He said the broad economic space which the services sector will unleash will trigger the expansion of economic activities and jobs in the region. Cross-border capital movements will spur the growth of industrialisation driven by an expanding and more productive agricultural sector.
Mr Eriya Kategaya, Uganda’s minister for East African Affairs, was even more optimistic.
“Legislation, regulations and administrative procedures can no longer discriminate between domestic and EAC businesses in those sectors. Businesses are now able to establish in other EAC states, or provide their services across the border,” Mr Kategaya said.
Services
The Common Market has liberalised many service sectors including business services, communication, distribution, education, financial services, travel and tourism as well as transport.
After yesterday, service providers in sectors like education, can now enter other EAC markets on equal footing with domestic providers.
This means one has the right to bring in managers and supervisors from across the EAC to help him/her run these businesses, and these workers are entitled to residence.
However some service sectors such as legal services, some retail services and computer related services will not be opened until 2012 or 2015.
According to Mr Kategaya this may be because the Government wants to continue to support these sectors until the deadline, or because regulation and oversight of the sector needs to be put in place before they can be totally opened up. It may also be because businesses in that sector are not ready to compete regionally and need time to prepare.
Movement of Persons
Mr Mwapachu says with the free movement of labour, it is important that the EAC partner states quickly work out the modalities for enabling such freedom to take effect.
While Rwanda and Kenya are leading the way by eliminating work permits, at a bilateral level, between them, in the case of Rwanda, the elimination of work permits is extended to all citizens of EAC partner states. Kenya has scrapped the fees.
In Uganda modalities of how this will be effected are yet to be discussed by the government and the proposed time frame for its application is end of 2010 but the fees are likely to remain.
It is notable that to most ordinary citizens of the EAC partner states, the era infers the free movement of persons in the region.
Goods
But the movement is subject to limitations of the partner state on grounds of public policy, security or health. Furthermore, citizens shall still be required to carry a standard form of identification in order to cross borders.
When in full gear, the common market will mean goods can be sold across borders without any tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
Goods will essentially be duty free so a trader in Uganda may decide to sell their products in Kenya or Tanzania and can do so without restrictions.
However Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry UNCCI president Olive Zaitun Kigongo said: “We are concerned about the hurdles it presents such as concerns from our members that they will be out-competed by the Kenyan industries. But at the same time we need to get out of the box and compete because that could make us better”.
If you are a teacher looking for a job, a trader ready to do business or a citizen looking for residence, you can freely enter any of the five East African countries because the ground rules have been levelled, at least on paper.
Yesterday, the five EAC member countries; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi concurrently ushered in the long-awaited single market trading bloc - the Common Market.
140m-strong market
To an ordinary Ugandan, this means accessing a job, providing a service, moving freely, and accessing a market of about 140 million people in the region.
In his maiden remarks, EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu said there is a painful and lengthy process before all the benefits of this new era can be enjoyed by all the citizens in the region.
“The EAC Common Market is finally here. It ushers in a higher level of integration beyond trade in goods which the Customs Union caters for, with positive impact on the economies of the Partner States as reflected by growing intra-regional trade in the past five years.”
He said the broad economic space which the services sector will unleash will trigger the expansion of economic activities and jobs in the region. Cross-border capital movements will spur the growth of industrialisation driven by an expanding and more productive agricultural sector.
Mr Eriya Kategaya, Uganda’s minister for East African Affairs, was even more optimistic.
“Legislation, regulations and administrative procedures can no longer discriminate between domestic and EAC businesses in those sectors. Businesses are now able to establish in other EAC states, or provide their services across the border,” Mr Kategaya said.
Services
The Common Market has liberalised many service sectors including business services, communication, distribution, education, financial services, travel and tourism as well as transport.
After yesterday, service providers in sectors like education, can now enter other EAC markets on equal footing with domestic providers.
This means one has the right to bring in managers and supervisors from across the EAC to help him/her run these businesses, and these workers are entitled to residence.
However some service sectors such as legal services, some retail services and computer related services will not be opened until 2012 or 2015.
According to Mr Kategaya this may be because the Government wants to continue to support these sectors until the deadline, or because regulation and oversight of the sector needs to be put in place before they can be totally opened up. It may also be because businesses in that sector are not ready to compete regionally and need time to prepare.
Movement of Persons
Mr Mwapachu says with the free movement of labour, it is important that the EAC partner states quickly work out the modalities for enabling such freedom to take effect.
While Rwanda and Kenya are leading the way by eliminating work permits, at a bilateral level, between them, in the case of Rwanda, the elimination of work permits is extended to all citizens of EAC partner states. Kenya has scrapped the fees.
In Uganda modalities of how this will be effected are yet to be discussed by the government and the proposed time frame for its application is end of 2010 but the fees are likely to remain.
It is notable that to most ordinary citizens of the EAC partner states, the era infers the free movement of persons in the region.
Goods
But the movement is subject to limitations of the partner state on grounds of public policy, security or health. Furthermore, citizens shall still be required to carry a standard form of identification in order to cross borders.
When in full gear, the common market will mean goods can be sold across borders without any tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
Goods will essentially be duty free so a trader in Uganda may decide to sell their products in Kenya or Tanzania and can do so without restrictions.
However Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry UNCCI president Olive Zaitun Kigongo said: “We are concerned about the hurdles it presents such as concerns from our members that they will be out-competed by the Kenyan industries. But at the same time we need to get out of the box and compete because that could make us better”.
