BURUNDI'S VIEW ON EAC TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000549 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2019 TAGS: PINR KE TZ UG BY SUBJECT: BURUNDI'S VIEW ON EAC TRADE NEGOTIATIONS (C-AL9-02031) REF: SECSTATE 102933 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Charles H. Twining for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Post sources at Burundi's Ministry of East African Community Affairs provided the following assessment of the EAC's September 24-25 meeting in Kampala (reftel): ¶A. (C) Kenya took charge of the negotiations. Rwanda and Uganda also asserted themselves, particularly in support of establishing an EAC common market. ¶B. (C) Tanzania was perceived as the "millstone" of the gathering, while Burundi tended to fall in line with other members' agendas. ¶C. (C) Post sources could not provide detailed information on individual members' negotiating strategies. In general, Kenya advocated for fewer restrictions on the movement of goods and persons and a general harmonization of labor and employment policies, while Tanzania remained skeptical of such wholesale integration. ¶D. (C) Post sources did not provide names of the actual negotiators representing each country. ¶E. (C) Kenya proposed free movement of goods and persons, mutual recognition of academic and professional qualifications, free access to land, the right of establishment (i.e., permanent residence),and the use of national ID cards for travel within the EAC. ¶F. (C) Tanzania was opposed from the beginning of the talks to the final three points listed in sub-paragraph E, apparently fearing large numbers of economic immigrants from poorer countries with limited land resources. ¶G. (C) There appeared to be general agreement on the need to reduce restrictions on the movement of goods and people for trade purposes within the EAC, but it was difficult to separate these issues from larger concerns about land usage and economic migration. ¶H. (C) No substantive decisions were made on the agenda items. Members elected to forward these matters to the EAC's Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs (SCLJA) for consideration. ¶J. (C) The next meeting, to include Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General, will be held in Mwanza, Tanzania on October 17, to be followed by a summit for heads of state in Arusha, Tanzania on November 20. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: Post submits this information with the caveat that Burundi is perceived -- and perceives itself -- as a junior partner in the EAC. Burundi feels itself hampered by a lack of both economic resources and Anglophone diplomats from interacting on an equal footing with other members. Nonetheless, the observations of Post's interlocutors at the Ministry of EAC Affairs have generally been accurate. END COMMENT. Twining