DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- A Tanzanian government senior official on Monday urged fellow countrymen to seize business opportunities in the East African Community (EAC) following the ratification of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols.
Damas Ndumbaro, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, told parliament in the capital Dodoma that the opportunities were available in business, investments and employment.
Ndumbaro said small and large-scale Tanzanian entrepreneurs have access to market within the bloc but he said set rules must be adhered to.
He said EAC member states of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan set the EAC Rules of Origin to help differentiate between goods produced within the EAC region and those from outside.
"This was intended to ensure favorable custom duties and tariffs for goods produced within the bloc," the official told the House.
He added that the EAC member states ratified the protocols to enhance business as well as boost development.
According to him, most local manufacturers and farmers failed to sell their products within the EAC due to some laxity in export processes.
He said identification of goods produced in the EAC becomes easy when a product is wholly manufactured or obtained in one country.
Ndumbaro was responding to a question by Mbarouk Salum Ali, a Member of Parliament for Wete constituency in Zanzibar who had urged the government to link Pemba Island spice farmers with EAC markets.
The lawmaker was concerned that despite Pemba Island spice farmers being among the world's leading spice producers, they hardly access markets within and outside the country. Enditem
