AFRICAN STATES AGREE TO REGIONAL TARIFF CUTS
  Fifteen countries in Eastern and
  Southern Africa have agreed to cut tariffs on regional trade by
  10 pct every two years up to 1996.
      A statement by the Preferential Trade Area (PTA), which
  seeks to create a common market stretching from Ethiopia in the
  north to Lesotho in the south, said the governments would make
  the first tariff cut next year.
      In 1996 they would assess the impact of the tariff
  reductions and work out a new timetable for the complete
  elimination of all barriers to trade by the year 2000.
      The PTA, set up in 1982, groups Burnudi, the Comoros,
  Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda,
  Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
      PTA sources said the agreement averted a split between
  members wanting more progress towards free trade and weaker
  states concerned about the effects on customs revenue.
      The reductions cover only a common list of 300 or so widely
  traded commodities and goods but PTA sources said the
  organisation planned to expand the list to include 425 items.
  

