Tanzania's President John Magufuli. PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- Kenya and Rwanda have already signed the agreement, leaving Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan as the only countries whose decisions are awaited.
- During the recent EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha, it was agreed that after a grace period of three months, each country may go its own way due to failure to forge a common position on the EPA agreement.
- Tanzania earlier rejected the deal as it was not aligned with its vision for industrialisation, with parliament passing a motion in November 2016 rejecting the EPA
Dar es Salaam.
The Tanzanian
government is reviewing its position on the Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, with a view to endorsing the
deal, The Citizen has learnt.
Officials are currently engaging their EU counterparts on the agreement before a decision is made.
Member
states of the East Africa Community (EAC) have three months left within
which to make their respective final decisions known on EPA, which has
left the countries divided.
Kenya and Rwanda have
already signed the agreement, leaving Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and
South Sudan as the only countries whose decisions are awaited.
During
the recent EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha, it was agreed that
after a grace period of three months, each country may go its own way
due to failure to forge a common position on the EPA agreement.
Tanzania
earlier rejected the deal as it was not aligned with its vision for
industrialisation, with parliament passing a motion in November 2016
rejecting the EPA.
On Tuesday, Tanzania's minister for
Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Augustine Mahiga confirmed
that negotiations with the EU were ongoing.
The
minister told The Citizen in a telephone interview that they were in
talks to resolve some technicalities before signing the EPA. The
minister did not expound on the nature of the technicalities, only
saying it was too early to speak on them.
Dr Mahiga
said Tanzania will only sign the agreement after reaching a concrete
agreement in the ongoing dialogue. “It is still too early to disclose
the technicalities which we are yet to agree upon,” he said, noting that
once the government and the EU agree on the technicalities and answer
all of Tanzania’s queries, then the issue will be taken to Parliament
for endorsement.
He stressed that whatever outcome would be reached, the final decision will be made by Parliament on whether to sign or not.
Sources have told The Citizen
that the EU and the government recently raised their level of
engagement on EPA, with the European Commission set to engage the EU
Parliament last evening on the status of the EPAs.
In
Tanzania, the diplomatic decision to apparently reach an amicable
agreement appears to be linked to the recent visit to State House by the
acting EU Head of Mission in Dar es Salaam, Mr Charles Stuart, on
February 7.
The State House dispatched photos of the
meeting between President John Magufuli and Mr Stuart with no details of
what their talks was centred on.
Fresh review
According
to sources, the government may have relaxed its earlier stance on EPA
as a means to repair its soured diplomatic relations with the EU, which
saw the Brussels-based body announce a fresh review of its diplomatic
and economic engagement with Tanzania.
The Tanzania-EU
tiff escalated following the recalling of the former EU Head of
Commission, Mr Roeland van De Geer, who left the country on November
2018 over a reported standoff with local authorities over democracy and
human rights issues.
It is understood that both parties are now keen to mend strained relations in give-and-take negotiations.
In
Arusha, an official of the Secretariat said yesterday the Community was
not aware of the likelihood of the EAC member countries changing their
position on the deal.
“The position of the EAC is what
was decided during the recent summit in Arusha,” the official affirmed,
noting that the decision would be made at that level. He was answering
to queries on whether Tanzania had indicated any progress that may
change its position on the agreement.
He said the EAC was only awaiting the expiry of the grace period given during the February 1st summit to know which way to go.
The
summit held in Arusha received the progress report on EU-EAC Economic
Partnership and decided that the EAC engages the EU on the matter in the
next four months “to get more clarification on the pertinent issue of
concern”.
The communique read at the end of the summit
stressed after the grace period of four months each EAC state may go its
way as far as the EAC-EU economic partnership agreement is concerned.
“Thereafter,
partner states who wish to may or may not sign EPA,” emphasized the
communique read by EAC secretary-general Liberat Mfumukeko.
South Sudan, a new entrant to the Community, is yet to make its position known.
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