Regional Unity West Vs. East

On the road to the United States of Africa, fourteen[1] regional integration organizations have been created to unit Africa regionally first. The ultimate goals are to create one government, common monetary and commercial policies, free movement of people, goods, money and businesses within the continent.

Fragmented and small nations could not effectively compete with large economies. That is why many African regions have been attempting to join together for economic empowerment. In addition, regional integration would increase and enhance internal trade, competitive advantage, investment, bargaining power, cooperation and peace.

On this blog, I will compare the regional organizations between East and West Africa.

West Africa’s economic integration organizations are much more developed than the regional organizations in East Africa. Unlike the East African integration, the West African regional organizations have started conflict resolution negotiations, free movement of people and are close to creating a common currency and external tariffs.

For example, some West Africans, citizens of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member counties,[2] now have an ECOWAS passport that allows them to travel to fifteen West African counties freely.

Only the citizens of the three east African countries could travel freely between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Conflicts are the major barriers to regional integration, especially in East Africa.

For my readers, I have listed the recent developments of the regional organization in West and East Africa. Feel free to compare the extent of unity between the East and West.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Recent Developments:


· The deadline for creating a new and common currency by the West African Monetary Zone28 in July 2005 was postponed to 2009. The West African Monetary Zone is a group of six ECOWAS members–Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

· ECOWAS plans to create a customs union and implement a common external tariff in 2007.

· In October 2005, the government of Nigeria began implementing ECOWAS’ common external tariff, which should bring the country’s weighted average tariff down from 29 percent to below 20 percent. The new tariff system has four bands: 0 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent, and 20 percent. However, there are a number of temporary measures, including a temporary 50 percent tariff, which can be placed on those imports that directly compete with items produced in Nigeria until the end of 2007.

· In late 2005, ECOWAS announced plans to implement a $50 billion project to increase access to energy services in the ECOWAS region.


West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)
Members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
Recent Developments:

· The Regional Solidarity Bank of WAEMU opened a branch in Guinea-Bissau on December 12, 2005.

· On October 27, 2005, the European Union and WAEMU/ECOWAS agreed to continue Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations in 2006 and set out a precise timetable for the negotiations.

· In May 2005, a WAEMU delegation visited the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to strengthen the existing relationship between UNECA and WAEMU and share information and experience in the areas of trade and regional integration.

East Africa Community (EAC)
Members: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Recent Developments:

· Customs union among the EAC members was implemented in January 2005.

· Although the common external tariff (CET) was launched on time in January 2005, it has not been fully implemented. Administrative arrangements are currently taking place to establish the common external tariff. The CET is to have three tariff levels: zero for raw materials and capital goods, 10 percent for intermediate goods, and 25 percent for consumer goods.

· As of December 2005, the East Africa Power Master Plan was being approved by EAC ministers to improve energy supply through regional cooperation.

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
Members: Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Recent Developments:

· In March 2005, COMESA announced plans to set up a permanent regulatory authority to oversee the pharmaceutical industry in member countries. A committee has already been established to finalize guidelines on enhancing regional trade and cooperation in the sector, and to this end will publish minimum technical standards for the industry to address differences in the regulatory and procedural requirements of each member state.

· The COMESA Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2005 with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization for cooperation in developing programs in the fields of education, science, culture, and communications in the region.

· Cuba sent a permanent representative to COMESA on September 20, 2005.

· As of December 2005, eleven COMESA countries44 are members of COMESA’s Free Trade Area and have “eliminated their tariffs on COMESA originating products, in accordance with the tariff reduction schedule adopted in 1992.”

· All COMESA members have agreed to a December 2008 date for the establishment of a customs union.

· The European Union is negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement with the eastern and southern Africa region, which includes countries with memberships in COMESA, EAC, and SADC. Technical and senior level talks were held in May, September, and October 2005 to discuss regional issues, market access, trade-related areas, development cooperation aspects, agriculture, and fisheries. According to the EU, a main challenge for the EPA negotiations is the overlapping membership of various regional integration organizations with diverging integration agendas.

_______

[1] The fourteen regional integration organization in Africa are The Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), whose five members encompass all of North Africa; The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), whose 20 members include all East African countries except Tanzania and seven countries of Southern Africa; The Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), whose 18 members are in West, Central, Southern, and North Africa; The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), whose 11 members span Central Africa; The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose 15 members encompass all of West Africa; The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD); comprising 7 countries in the Horn of Africa and the northern part of East Africa; The Southern African Development Community (SADC), whose 14 members cover all of Southern Africa; The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), a group of six ECCAS countries; The East African Community (EAC), made up of COMESA members Kenya and Uganda and SADC member Tanzania; The Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), consisting of three members of ECCAS; The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), made up of four members of COMESA and one (Réunion) that is a dependency of France; The Mano River Union (MRU), consisting of three members of ECOWAS; The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), consisting of five members of SADC; The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), encompassing eight members of ECOWAS. Source: http://www.uneca.org/aria/ARIA%20English_full.pdf.

[2] Members of ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo
28 The West African Monetary Zone, under ECOWAS, was created in 2001 to assist member countries with temporary balance of payment issues. EIU, African Union, found at http://www.eiu.edu,/ retrieved Mar. 12, 2006.
44 The eleven east African countries that are members of COMESA’s FTA are Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.