US treasury chief backs east African integration

Thu Nov 15, 5:44 PM ET



ARUSHA, Tanzania (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday supported economic integration among five east African nations, saying it could attract investment.

Paulson, on the first day of an African tour, held talks with finance ministers from the East Africa Community (EAC), a five-nation trading bloc whose members are pushing for economic integration.

"We talked specifically about two areas: markets and infrastructure," he told reporters in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.

With "regional harmonisation of markets (and) connecting people to markets, this is a great region to invest in," Paulson added.

Paulson will on Friday travel to South Africa, where he will deliver remarks at the US-Africa Business Summit organized by the Corporate Council on Africa.

Over the weekend, he will attend a meeting G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors to discuss economic changes on the continent. Paulson will wrap up his African visit in Ghana on Monday.

Paulson will "discuss the underpinnings of Africa's recent growth and explore ways in which the international financial community can further support Africa's development," according to a US treasury statement.

The EAC, comprising of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, is working to establish a common market and monetary union by 2012 while also planning to form a political federation.

Originally established in 1967, the EAC collapsed a decade later amid diverging economic philosophies.

It was resurrected in 2000 as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania agreed to create a European Union-style common market for their 90 million citizens. Rwanda and Burundi became members in July this year.

US treasury chief backs east African integration - Yahoo! News