increasing the membership of the common market to six with a population of an estimated 163 million people.
The 17th ordinary session of the EAC Heads of State Summit in
Arusha resolved to admit South Sudan into the economic bloc. South
Sudan’s admission to the EAC ends several years of waiting to join the
regional bloc comprising Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda.
Indeed, it’s a relief to South Sudan, considering that the
country’s interest for membership came soon after gaining its
independence from Sudan in 2011, but the process of its admission was
delayed for a number of reasons, including internal political stability.
This new development for the bloc comes nearly seven years since
Rwanda and Burundi joined it on July 6, 2009. It should be noted that
Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have a history of co-operation dating back to
the early 20th century.
The move is good for the world’s youngest nation, which has been
struggling with a crumbling economy following a two-year devastating
civil war. South Sudan’s membership of the EAC offers a new opportunity
for engaging directly with governments of the member states.
By joining the EAC, we are optimistic that the country will behave
responsibly on issues of good governance, democracy, rule of law and
observance of human rights and social justice.
We are equally optimistic that the people of South Sudan will have
massive gains in terms of economic potentials as well as timely and
effective implementation of the peace agreement. South Sudan has
struggled with all these issues since the outbreak of the war in
December 2013.
Moreover, the bloc’s membership will, to a great extent, play a
critical role in enhancing trade with its allies; enhance cultural
relations;, human resource and educational system. The other advantage
for a larger bloc is that citizens of South Sudan, as is the case with
the citizens of other countries within the EAC, can travel to all the
countries without applying or paying for a visa.
As a bloc, EAC is looking at creating a competitive ground for all
countries, especially small ones, as well as allowing comparative
advantage to strengthen a particular country’s production capacity.
This is an ample time for South Sudan to explore those opportunities.
For instance, on trade there a lot of benefits for South Sudan to
trade across the region. This will bolster innovation, stimulate
investments and improve the quality of products to withstand an
aggressive market. This advantage is partly based on free movement of
goods and labour in an expansive single market of more than 160 million
consumers.
It’s understood that as a young nation, South Sudan has a lot of
challenges. We also understand, for sure that in today’s world,
challenges are not considered as obstacles to development, but rather a
catalyst for developments. So, with South Sudan being on this bandwagon
it’s supposed to work hard to ensure notable progress in all spheres of
development.
