DAR ES SALAAM, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday took over the chairmanship of the East African Community (EAC) from Tanzanian President John Magufuli at the 18th EAC ordinary summit in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking shortly after he had handed over the chair, President Magufuli asked his Ugandan successor to steer the community by maintaining the cost-cutting measures.
"During my chairmanship, the EAC saved 3 million U.S. dollars through cost cutting. I hope the coming chairman will continue with the same," Magufuli said.
Magufuli also appealed to Museveni to try to sort out some of the thorny trade deals that the EAC was still negotiating with other countries.
"I failed to find a solution for EAC-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) trade deal but I am optimistic President Museveni will take this forward," said Magufuli.
The summit was expected to come up with a jointly accepted roadmap towards the signing of the EAC-EU trade deal that has divided the member states over its impact.
The EPA would result in six members of the EAC allowing European goods in at extremely low tariff rates over 25 years while the EU would permit EAC products tariff-free access.
For the EPA to be functional, all EAC members, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, must sign the deal. So far, only Kenya and Rwanda have signed it.
Tanzania has refused to approve the EPA deal, saying the deal would kill its infant industries and distress its future industrialization drive. The deadline for the EAC countries to append their signatures on the trade agreement was October 1, 2016.
Last week, the EU expressed willingness to initiate negotiations with the government of Tanzania on the EPA.
The summit was also expected to deliberate on Somalia's application to join the EAC.
The EAC ordinary summit also deliberated on sustainable financing mechanism for the EAC, political federation and progress report on verification exercise for the admission of Somalia into the regional bloc.
The statement said other issues on the agenda were a report on the modality for the promotion of the reduction on importation of used motor vehicles and a report on the review of the textile and leather sector with a view to phasing out importation of used textiles and footwear.
The summit was preceded by the 34th Extraordinary Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers, held from May 16 to 18.
