The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa says that once in force, the COMESA Customs Union will bring a lot of benefits to the region and beyond, as it will help reduce the cost of doing business.
Speaking in an interview with e-comesa news, Director of Trade at the COMESA Secretariat Dr Francis Mangeni says the preparations to enforce the COMESA customs Unions have reached an advanced stage sighting the recent ministerial meetings, which were held in Lusaka.
Dr. Mangeni said the meeting of Ministers from the region agreed to finalise the discussions in April 2012 to put final touches into the COMESA Customs Union implementation. He said once in force the region would be united, as it will acts as a block on the international scene.
Dr. Mangeni said the Customs Union will bring all member states together and will speak one language on both the local and international scene.
Dr. Mangeni also said the industrial Policies of the member states in the COMESA region will be harmonized in terms of affording protection for the industries to produce more effectively on the COMESA market.
He further revealed that the common external tariffs or the taxes that are charged on imports are structured such that in areas were the region need protection taxes will be higher at 25% on finished products and for areas that need capital good, inputs and raw materials the taxes will be zero rated.
Dr. Mangeni said that doing business will even become much cheaper and border crossing will be easy as documentation will be streamlined and harmonized.
“Customs cooperation programme is an integral part of the customs union in order to reduce the cost of doing business reduce waiting time at border posts which is a very cardinal component for the business men and women in our region”, Mangeni echoed.
The COMESA Customs Union was launched at the Summit of the COMESA Authority of Heads of State and Government took place in June 2009 in Zimbabwe.
The COMESA Authority endorsed the key principles and rules that will be the basis for the operation of the Customs Union that the Ministers had adopted. These principles and rules are contained in the two key legal instruments of the Customs Union, namely, the Council Regulations Governing the COMESA Customs Union and the Common Market Customs Management Regulations.