Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (right) shares a light moment with his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli after holding a meeting on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 31, 2017. PHOTO | UPPU
With the East African Community still deadlocked over the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Ugandan president met with his Tanzanian counterpart in Addis and agreed to further talks over the deal later this month.
Presidents Yoweri Museveni and John Magufuli made the decision on Tuesday on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Talks among the regional bloc member states over the EPA deal flopped last weekend after Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi failed to provide key trade data that was needed to set the agenda for the meeting.
In a statement released by Uganda’s State House after the Addis meeting, the two leaders are said to have agreed to hold talks later in February ahead of the next EAC Summit in April.
However, the February 2 deadline that the European Union had given the regional bloc member states to have signed and ratified the trade pact will have lapsed.
Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi are yet to sign the trade deal, which Kenya and Rwanda already did and ratified.
All the EAC members must sign and ratify the pact to make it enforceable.
Tanzania argues that signing it in its current form will jeopardise its industrialisation strategy, while Burundi says it will ink the deal only if the EU resumes its aid support to Bujumbura.
President Museveni said they needed to discuss the issues, point on point.
“EPA is also about East Africans. If we scatter it without discussions, it would be a mistake. Am more worried about the unity of East Africa,” he said.
The two leaders also discussed the political crisis in Burundi.
President Museveni is mediating the Burundi peace talks with former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa facilitating the efforts to engage all the stakeholders in the dialogue.
