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Business sector offers to pay govt’s Comesa subscription
2006-07-13 08:50:51
By Joseph Mwendapole
The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) has expressed its willingness to pay Tanzania’s outstanding membership fees, if it rejoins the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
Former TPSF chairman Arnold Kilewo said yesterday the merits of being a Comesa member far outweighed the government’s reasons for withdrawal from the regional economic bloc.
He said the gains to be made from low-tariff trade should inspire the government into rejoining the economic bloc, which has a market of over 400 million people.
Kilewo’s remarks were in response to comments attributed to the Deputy Minister for Industry Trade and Marketing, Dr David Mathayo during interview with BBC on Tuesday.
Dr Mathayo said the annual membership fee of $3 million was a burden the government could not bear.
The deputy minister said the decision to pull out of Comesa was arrived at after lengthy deliberations and research.
Kilewo said Comesa commands a regional market of 400 million people and would be ideal for local products.
He said if the government subscribed to the view that the private sector is the engine of the national economy, it should therefore heed the call to rejoin Comesa without further delay.
’’I have spoken to members of the business community in the country who have expressed their wish that Tanzania returns to the Comesa. And if the government is forced to clear its outstanding annual subscription before it is readmitted, we’re willing to clear the debt,’’ Kilewo said.
’’It will be a bold decision the government will have to make to resume Comesa membership as it would be in the interest of the nation,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Confederation of Tanzania Industry (CTI) and the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, (TCCIA) and TPSF advised the government to consider rejoining Comesa.
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