NAIROBI, Aug 25 (AFP) - Presidents from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will hold a three-day summit in Kenya starting Friday to discuss the foundations for a customs union of the East African Community (EAC), a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.
Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa "will meet for the summit retreat to discuss in length the implementation of the customs protocol, which is due to come into force on Junuary 1 next year," Kenyan presidency spokesman Isaiah Kabira told AFP.
The summit will take place in State House, Nairobi.
The three presidents in March signed a protocol laying the foundations for a customs union of the East African Community (EAC), designed to free up their trade and harmonise tariffs on goods entering the three countries.
Broadly, under the deal, Kenya will not levy duties on goods imported from Uganda and Tanzania while certain goods from Kenya heading to the other two countries will be subject to a duty that will decrease from 10 to zero percent over the course of five years.
Under the treaty, the three states will harmonise tariffs imposed on goods from outside the community into three bands: zero percent for raw materials, 10 percent for intermediate goods and 25 percent for finished products.
The protocol prohibits non-tariff barriers within the EAC and contains anti-dumping measures.
The EAC was originally established in 1967 but collapsed a decade later amid deteriorating relationships and diverging economic philosophies of member states. The community was officially relaunched in 2000.