Eastern, Central, Southern Africa meet

  1. Posted on Thursday 23 October 2008 - 09:10
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    Mugira Fredrick, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
    Several heads of state from Central, East and Southern Africa have been meeting in Kampala, Uganda. The summit has since Saturday been discussing economic and trade liberalization, trading arrangements among the regional blocks and infrastructural development among others.
    east africa map
    Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni lamented that disunity was the biggest disease failing development efforts in Africa. He stressed that uniting economically would help liberate Africa economically.

    Museveni observed that lack of economic integration coupled with slave trade that lasted over 300 years, European colonialism, neo-colonialism, among others, are factors that greatly contributed to the marginalization of the continent.

    Museveni rubbished the attribution of technological inferiority as being the cause of the African continent’s underdevelopment adding that countries like Japan and China were at the same level of development but because they were united it was possible for them to eliminate all the injustices and cause change to their societies.

    On economic integration, Museveni said it is a strategic tool using smaller markets like the East African Community of 125 million people to be translated into bigger market units on the principles of the realization of the economies of scale. He gave the example of China which, despite being communist, is a bigger market of 1.3 billion people attracting Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) of US$327 trillion compared to Uganda’s US$2.9 billion worth of Direct Foreign Investment.

    Museveni observed that the Tripartite Summit will be a historical event in charting out a common denominator that will help guarantee a lasting and prosperous future for Africa.

    The summit is being attended by 26 member countries of the East African Community, Common Market of East and Southern African (COMESA) and Southern African Development Conference (SADC). It was also addressed by President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Motlanthe of South Africa, and Kagame of Rwanda.

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