The East African Community (EAC) is scheduled to hold its eighth summit on Nov. 30 for the heads of state from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The annual summit will be held in Arusha where the regional economic integration bloc seats its headquarters, according to a statement from the information and public relations department of the community released on Thursday.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania will attend the summit.

Pierre Nkurunziza, president of the Republic of Burundi, and Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda, will also be present at the summit, in that the EAC heads of state will consider the accession into the community of these two countries.

The eighth EAC summit is expected to launch the 2006-2010 community development strategy as well as to consider proposals from the EAC Council of Ministers on amending the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community as regards multiple membership to regional trading blocs in particular.

Apart from their own customs union launched in January last year, Kenya and Uganda are also members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) while Tanzania is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The East African Customs Management Act demands that the three member states of the EAC pull before the end of this year out of COMESA and SADC to focus on the East African Community Customs Union.

The multiple membership issue will be debated in the East African Legislative Assembly which is consisted of nine lawmakers from each of the three member states.

The East African parliament will debate the multiple membership issue on Dec. 5.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)