先週、アフリカ域内貿易開発に関するアフリカサミットがウガンダで開かれました。
そこで、将来、エジプトから南アフリカまでアフリカ大陸を縦断する自由貿易圏の構想が出されました。
ついにここまで来たか、という感じです。
挫折に挫折を繰り返してきたパン・アフリカ主義。
グローバル経済の中で如何に生き残るか、金融危機をどう乗り切るか、といった域内で何か手を打たなければならない、という外部要因にプッシュされる形かもしれませんが、それでも積年の思いである、アフリカ統合に向けて一歩ずつ進んでいるのではないでしょうか。
1885年、現在のアフリカ国境の基礎となる「アフリカ分割の原則」が合意され、欧米の列強によって勝手な線引きがされたベルリン会議から約120年。
ようやくアフリカ大陸をカバーするような自由貿易経済圏が具体的な話になってきました。
Cape to Cairo unity was 'over due' 『BBC NEWS』 Thursday, 23 October 2008
Three African trade blocs from Cape Town to Cairo have agreed to create a free trade zone incorporating 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn).
Oduor Ongwen, of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute, tells the BBC News website that the integration of Sadc, the EAC and Comesa will be a profitable move for the continent.
It's a step in the right direction and it is actually more than 18 years over due.
This is an idea that was mooted in 1980 when Africa gave itself 20 years to realise complete economic integration.
Politically, I would say there are challenges, but these are challenges that with the right mindset and political goodwill can be overcome.
Economically, I don't think we have a choice, given the trend in the global economy and the move to integration into big economic blocs where you have the European Union and Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement).
Africans are left with no choice.
In fact, for me the geographical area it is covering is still not large enough.
What we would want to see in the foreseeable future is the entire African continent becoming one economic unit because with that you have a fairly wide resource base and a big market.
Prosper fast
The reason why there is little value addition and Africa continues to specialise in extraction and exportation of primary commodities is because we have very, very tiny segregated markets that are not linked to each other.
Therefore we cannot roll out a major industrialisation plan due to the disjointed nature of our resource base.
With a population of more than three quarters of a billion, Africa is a huge market.
If we are integrated so that there are no barriers to movement of labour, goods and services, we are definitely going to be able to prosper quite fast economically.
If you look at the topology of Africa we basically share a lot of natural resources.
Take the tourism belt which runs from eastern Africa to the south, from Virunga area (in DR Congo), the Bwindi Forest (in Uganda) through Maasai Mara (in Kenya) and down into the Zambezi River (in southern Africa).
It is a long belt. If we can pool together resources, we can be able to tap a lot from tourism resources.
We have not been able to appreciate these resources and to develop them. But it is not going to be easy as there are quite a number of internal and external challenges.
We have serious deficit of democracy and I need not mention specific cases but all the way from west to east, from north to southern Africa, we have examples.
We have external challenges too and the challenges of infrastructure.
Mutual suspicion
The rail system in Africa, which is quite underdeveloped, is about moving from the hinterland of countries like Kenya, to the sea, not integrating them.
If you look at road networks, it is not about facilitating intra-regional trade. If you look at our energy resources, we have not been able to develop that.
There is also mutual suspicion between countries. We can see it in the East African Community (EAC) - 10 years after the treaty was put in place, there is still serious suspicion between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The Tanzanian business community thinks that the Kenyan economy is so strong and if we integrate, the Tanzania business community is going to be wiped out.
Uganda and Kenya feel that there is a lot of influence of South African business in Tanzania which they think will give them unfair competition.
At the Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) and Sadc (Southern African Development Community) level, most of these economies are wary of South Africa's economic aggressiveness.
Some of them might be real fears, some of them might be imaginary, but they are there and if we don't deal with them we're not going to go very far.
United States of Africa
The entire intention is to realise political unity.
What was envisaged was four stages beginning with economic co-operation, then a customs union, then a common market and monetary union and then development into a single political unit.
The dream of [Ghana's first President, Kwame] Nkrumah was always to have what he called the United States of Africa, a single political entity that can articulate and defend the interests of the African continent.
There are very serious challenges to this because we have egos to deal with and problems with regard to political systems and democratisation.
But as long as we can free these countries economically and integrate, then a political union will definitely follow.
Uganda: EAC, SADC, COMESA to rationalise trade relations『Afrique en ligne』23 October 2008
A tripartite summit of three economic blocs, dominated by countries south of the Sahara on Wednesday resolved to rationalise their trade relations by creating a Free Trade Area, as they design a roadmap towards a merger into one economic bloc.
At the end of their one-day summit, leaders of the 26 countries of East African Community (EAC), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), also agreed to start working towards a merger into one economic bloc.
"A Tripartite Task Force is to be setup to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the merger for consideration within six months," the summit resolved in a communiqué read by EAC Secretary General, Juma Mwapachu.
The summit comprising of host Yoweri Museveni, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Kgalema Montlante of South Africa, Rwanda's Paul Kagame, the current EAC Chairman and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe further approved the expeditious establishment of a free trade area leading to a single customs union.
Cognizant of some member states not wholeheartedly embracing the move to merge, Kagame said there would be tools to cater for the least prepared and the economically weak like Somalia.
"Inevitably the integration will seemingly produce losers and winners initially, a consequence of a number of factors, including differences in productivity and economic strengths and individual economies," Kagame, who chaired the first tripartite summit noted.
"That is why successful integration processes incorporate compensation mechanism to provide the least prepared member states with lead time to execute mitigating strategies against initial shocks."
The outcome of the first tripartite summit of Common Markets of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and Southern Africa Development Cooperation (SADC) impact on the rest of Africa, said Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki.
"Any decisions we make are bound to have an effect on the rest of the continent," Kibaki told the summit that opened in Kampala on Wednesday.
"Our meeting today heralds the start of an unprecedented process of great significance for both our region and the entire African continent.
"The spirit of this Tripartite Summit is something that could be replicated as we endeavour to broaden economic cooperation at the continental level," he told fellow heads of states who attend a summit.
President Museveni described the meeting as historic because the greatest cause of Africa's woes was disunity.
"The greatest source of weakness has been disunity and low-level of political and economic integration.
"That's why Africa suffered decades of slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism and currently marginalization."
Tracing the genesis of Africa's underdevelopment compared to Asia, Museveni lambasted traditional leaders at the dawn of colonialism for failure to unite and fend off a common enemy.
"African small kings and chiefs gave themselves high sounding titles but could not save Africa from colonialism.
"It's important that this generation doesn't repeat mistakes of the chiefs."
He explained that the desired integration of EAC, SADC and COMESA was a strategic tool that would closely link the people of Africa to global markets and insure their future.
Museveni also put his cause for a large population that will be realised upon the merger of 527 million people saying.
He cited China's populous economy that has attracted Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to the tune of $327 trillion compared to Uganda's $2.9b with a population of less than 30 million an example of failed individualism only to be rescued in bigger trade integration.
"Uganda has liberalised more that China. We have liberalised most things. The only thing we have no liberalised is State House. China has remained communist; today, yesterday and I believe they will be tomorrow. But they have attracted more investments," Museveni noted.
He pointed out that even India with which Uganda suffered colonialism launched a satellite into space on Tuesday because it has developed, courtesy of a large market.
"Others (developed nations) are talking about being superior at sea, on land and in space. When I was a guerrilla I used to hide in forests but when someone is in space he can see you," Museveni said, sending the audience into deafening laughter.
"Other people are going to space, in (East) Africa we can hardly move from Uganda to the (sea) coast of Mombasa and vice versa."
Uganda: EAC, SADC, COMESA seek to merge『Afrique en ligne』23 October 2008
Twenty-six Africa countries belonging to different blocs are seeking to merge into one economic bloc, a move pundits say will lead to faster economic and political integration in the continent. If the move is endorsed during a tripartite summit slated for next week in Uganda, the emerging body will be the largest regional economic cooperation bloc in Africa.
The summit, slated for 18-24 Oct. here, will bring together member states from from the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Common Markets of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Among other issues, the summit will tackle the current global financial crisis.
Citing strains on resources and manpower due to multiple entries in various regional trading blocs, the three regional economic bodies are seeking to dissolve their current sub-regional trading bloc and merge into one regional economic bloc.
The African Union (AU) has been debating the need to fast track economic integration as well as the Union Government.
However, while some members support efforts to speed up political and economic integration, others want a slower process.
"The best strategy is to consolidate regional integration and use regional economic communities as building bloc towards an eventual AU government," Eriya Kategaya, Uganda's Minister for EAC, said in an interview on Friday.
"So by deliberating on getting to merge into one bloc, we are implementing a strategy of moving towards a continental economic cooperation in a systematic manner than as we would be in our small and economically weak regional economic co operations.
"Our 1st Tripartite summit will bring together heads of states from the three trading blocs to discuss and exchange ideas of how best we merge into one economic cooperation," Kategaya said.
He said the summit will focus on ''cross cutting'' issue that affect the three blocs, with the sticking issue being infrastructural development and connectivity, promotion of free movement of persons and integration covering economic and trade liberalisation.
"While EAC heads of states have resolved to commit more resources for development of infrastructure: roads, railways, sea ports and civil aviation, there is need to enhance the inter-connectivity with the other regions infrastructure to benefit from synergies and this summit is expected to provide an impetus in this regard," Kategaya explained.
The three regional trading blocs -- SADC, EAC, and COMESA -- have combined population of 527 million people, representing 57 percent of Africa's total population.
Their combined average GDP per capita is US$1,184.
The mainly challenge facing EAC, SADC, and COMESA in implementing the regional integration programmes is the overlapping membership.
EAC is already a customs union but four of EAC member states are with COMESA and one (Tanzania) with SADC.
Five SADC member states are members of Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
Therefore there are 10 countries in this region that are involved in SACU and are also seeking alternative customs unions.
"Almost two-thirds of the 26 countries are either in a customs union and participating in negotiating an alternative customs union to the one they belong to, or are in the process of negotiating two separate customs unions," said Sam Kutesa Uganda's Foreign Affairs Minister.
"This has led to the recognition by the three Regional Cooperations of the need to initiate a process of coordination and harmonisation of their regional integration programmes as a way of mitigating the challenges of multiple membership.
"The tripartite summit will help mitigate challenges of multiple membership being faced by some of the members states, paving way for accelerated inter-regional economic integration," Kutesa said.
