December deadline set for Comesa customs union

IN A confirmation of what was agreed last year, the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has set a December 2008 deadline for the establishment of a customs union. This is designed to allow the free circulation of goods within the borders of the member countries, according to a senior executive at a leading forwarder, and will require all members to impose a common external nomenclature and tariff to goods emanating from nonmember states. There is also an intriguing conflict of interests, he added. “SA is not a member of Comesa, but Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland are. They are also members of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) along with SA and Botswana. “How these countries resolve their similar but conflicting obligations to both customs areas will be interesting to watch.” The latest fixing of an end-2008 deadline for the Comesa free trade area (FTA) followed a decision supported by the 12th Comesa summit last May. The agenda dealt with issues such as Comesa’s progress towards a customs union in 2008; the workability of the Comesa fund; developments on the establishment of the Comesa monetary institute; and the regional payment system. Other issues that were raised were the infrastructure linkages within the region; political situation of the region; agriculture and food security; the economic partnership agreements (EPA) with the European Union (EU) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) with the US.