NAIROBI - Tanzania is committed to the integration of East African stock exchanges whose aim is to have the capital markets in the region operate under similar rules and are electronically interlinked.

For a long time, Tanzania has been a reluctant member of the East African Community, reneging on decisions made by other member countries.

On Thursday, Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Peter Pinda said that it was no longer appropriate to regard other east Africans as foreigners who should be prevented from investing in each others’ capital markets.

Visiting the Nairobi Stock Exchange trading floor, which now consists of an electronic board and interconnected computers through the automatic trading system (ATS), Mr Pinda said that there had been some doubts about integration of the bourses.

"We are reaching a stage where we are going to say that a Kenyan or any other east African is not a foreigner in Tanzania,” said Mr Pinda.

Of the five countries in the region, only Burundi is yet to have its own stock exchange.Rwanda launched its exchange in 2008.

With Kenya leading the push for the integration of the regional bourses, only Uganda had earlier seemed to have wholeheartedly committed itself to the concept and its implementation.

Agencies