Africa's largest trading bloc COMESA officially announced the launch of its customs union on Sunday in the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls, another key milestone for the bloc's economic integration.
The move came at the 13rd summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) which is being held here on Sunday and Monday.
New chairman of COMESA Authority and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe applauded the launch and said this was a demonstration that the region was walking the talk.
"Trade and investment are the pillars on which COMESA stands. We have talked about it, and now by launching the COMESA Customs Union, we demonstrate for all to see that we are walking the talk. We want to say it loud and clear, and to be heard by our stakeholders," Mugabe said.
The president added, "We have waited long enough, since 2004, and we rejoice that finally we have been able to get there."
"On this occasion, we say to each other, that we are COMESA, and that we are serious as a region. We want to be taken seriously. Our message to investors worldwide and to those of our region is clear -- we have a regional market for you, come to COMESA!" Mugabe said.
However, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had proposed that the instruments establishing the Customs Union should not be signed because members of the East African Community, who are also in COMESA, needed to further discuss the provisions of the new union.
"We are happy with the three- band (on tariffs) but then there are other issues which have not been dealt with," he said.
Mugabe said from Museveni's statement, he understood that the East African Community was yet to conclude discussion.
"So with that position, which is a position of reservation I take, so do we adopt the position of the Council (of Ministers who had proposed the launch of the Union)?" Mugabe asked.
"I take it that the position taken by East Africa does not prevent us from proceeding with the launch," he said, before Museveni caused laughter in the conference hall by giving a saying from his home that "if there is a cow with a swollen mouth, it does not prevent the other cows from eating."
The customs union is seen as one of the ways to boost intra- regional trade and add value to products. Producers will get a larger and wider market, with the customs union encouraging mass production.
The union will also offer equal protection through the Common External Tariff to all manufacturers against imports from countries that are not in the customs union.
Landlocked countries that are neighbors to Customs Union countries who have access to the sea will have their goods cleared at the first port of entry.
Importing will be sped up following the removal of customs barriers, and traders will get a wider source of goods and have more bargaining power in dealing with suppliers.
Consumers will also get a wider choice of goods at lower prices from increased productivity, while the region as a whole will get cross-border investment as the enlarged market is more attractive to investors.
With the theme of "Consolidating Regional Integration through Value Addition, Trade and Food Security", the COMESA summit followed a meeting of the Council of Ministers from Tuesday to Thursday and talks of COMESA foreign ministers on Friday and Saturday. The summit, which had originally been set for last year, has been postponed twice. The COMESA made a put-off decision first to allow the host country Zimbabwe to complete its electoral process which finally gave birth to the formation of an all inclusive government. The meeting was later postponed again as organizers took into account the need to begin the process of implementing the decisions of the summit of three trading blocs held in Uganda last year regarding the harmonization of Free Trade Areas and common external tariffs.
COMESA, headquartered in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, was formed in 1994 to replace its forerunner, the Preferential Trade Area. It enjoys an aggregate population of about 400 million and combined GDP of over 360 billion U.S. dollars.