A section of EAC heads Photo courtesy

The 2nd EAC Investment Conference, the premier forum for the EAC and the Partner States to promote the region as a single market and investment area is a great milestone in the region's integration process. This process is scheduled to take place in four phases: Customs Union; Common Market; Monetary Union and Political federation. 

Although a fully fledged customs union will come into effect with zero customs duty applicable to all goods traded among EA states in January 2010, the region must do great soul-searching if it has to realize the rest of the goals that will unlock the potential in its over 126 million people and a $60 billion GDP. 

With the political class trading tirades over boundaries; feigning ignorance on the interconnectedness of economic activities to the environment and suspiciously focusing on short term goals of desire to wield power; it will take long to realize the noble goals stated above. There is need to tackle the inward challenges of sovereignty surrender; overlapping membership; negotiating as a block; poor information dissemination and inadequate private sector participation in development. The East African people will not convert global challenges into opportunities before exhibiting ability to convert local challenges into opportunities and shunning the dependency syndrome.