Posted in Press Release
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 19th June, 2018: The East African Community Partner States are set to benefit from increased development assistance from the French Development Agency (AFD).
Also projected to benefit from French development aid is the EAC Secretariat with the focus being on climate change, clean energy and private sector development and investment promotion.
AFD Chief Executive Officer Remy Rioux disclosed that French development assistance had surpassed the 10 billion euros mark in 2017 and will double in 2020 because of President Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to the country’s development cooperation with the rest of the world.
Mr. Rioux said that AFD’s focus was on sharing French expertise and financing, adding that 50 per cent of the agency’s funding would go to Africa.
He reiterated that French development finance was biased towards mitigating the effects of climate change, adding that France had accumulated many years of experience in financing for the phenomenon.
He singled out the Paris Agreement saying it was a voluntary policy that revolves around priorities identified by benefiting countries and regional economic communities. The Paris Agreement deals with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.
Mr. Rioux said that France was searching for more partnerships and projects noting that the bulk of the funding for climate change would go to non-sovereign actors namely the private sector, civil society and local authorities.
He said that the country supports regional integration the world over because of the country’s experience in Europe.
The AFD Chief Executive was speaking at the residence of the French Ambassador in Dar es Salaam during a meeting between the agency and an EAC Secretariat delegation led by the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Eng. Steven Mlote.
On his part, the Ambassador of France to Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Frederic Clavier, expressed concern at the glaring gaps between the skills needs of the private sector and the calibre of graduates churned out by East African universities.
“There are basically no capacity links between the training offered by universities and the needs of companies. There is an urgent need to support vocational training in the region,” said Amb. Clavier.
Amb. Clavier said that solar power should be a development priority everywhere in the world due to its convenience and affordability.
In his remarks, Eng. Mlote said that the EAC had made significant strides in the integration process, adding that the Custom Union and Common Market were already in place with steady progress being made towards the attainment of a single currency by the year 2024.
Eng. Mlote further cited achievements in the transport sector including the harmonisation of axle-load limits, driving standards, road sizes and signs, and cargo clearance and tracking systems.
Noting that one of the reasons for the collapse of the first EAC was lack of stakeholder engagement, Eng. Mlote said that the private sector was now a key player in the EAC integration.
On climate change, Eng. Mlote said that the region faces cross border climate change challenges whose mitigation cannot be undertaken individually by the Partner States.
He said that water levels in Lake Victoria, a major source of water and fishing in the region, had been severely affected by destruction of forest ecosystems from which some of its major tributaries originate.
Eng. Mlote told the French delegation that the EAC already had in place a Climate Change Strategy and Implementation Master Plan all of which were aimed at supporting national initiatives in the Partner States.
The DSG disclosed that the Community had already applied for accreditation to the Green Climate Fund, a fund established within the framework of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On clean energy, Eng. Mlote indicated that clean energy sources were a major priority for the Community since 80 per cent of households still depend on charcoal and firewood for cooking.
The DSG informed the French delegation that the EAC Summit had approved French as one of the official languages of the Community and urged France to support the promotion of the language within the region.
In addition to climate change, clean energy, and private sector development, the EAC delegation also proposed to the French for support industrial development and SMEs, tourism and wildlife management, research and policy analysis and ICT.
Among the officials accompanying the AFD CEO was Mr. Bruno Deprince, the Director of AFD's Nairobi Regional Office. On the EAC side were Ms. Beata Mukabaranga, the Principal Resource Mobilization Officer, and Ms. Suma Mwakyusa, the Principal International Relations Officer.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The French Development Agency (Agence francaise de development, AFD) is a public financial institution that works to fight poverty and promote sustainable development. AFD is active in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean and the French overseas territories where it finances and supports projects that improve living conditions for populations, promote economic growth and protect the planet.
AFD has its headquarters in Paris with teams based in Paris, Marseilles and in a network of 72 agencies and representations abroad and in the French overseas territories.
-ENDS-
For more information, please contact:
Mr Owora Richard Othieno
Head, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 784 835021
Email: OOthieno [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of five Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001:2008 Certified
Posted in Press Release
East African Court of Justice Arusha, 19th June 2018: The President of the East African Court of Justice, Hon Justice Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, while at the opening of a three days sensitization workshop for the Judges, State Attorneys and Members of the Bar Association of the Republic of Uganda on the role of the Court in the advancement of the East African Community Integration agenda, called upon the participants to strengthen their cooperation and relationship with the Court.
His Lordship told the participants that, the future and effectiveness of the Court will largely depend on its relationship with other stakeholders. “Your role as Judges, State Attorneys and Advocates is very crucial in the development of the EAC laws, jurisprudence and uniform interpretation and application of the EAC law.” Said the President of the Court. He further added that, it is only jointly that the partners in the rule of law chain can develop the potential of East African integration and reap the benefits it offers.
Justice Ugirashebuja in his remarks further said that, East African integration is of utmost importance to all the Partner States in the region, economically, politically and socially and that through integration and the development of an internal market, economic growth is inevitably stimulated. However, he added that the path to a high level of political, socio-economic, cultural and financial integration is sometimes fraught with uncertainties, and is at times long and bumpy. Most of these challenges are legal.
The President also said that, as regional integration experience has shown, law plays an absolutely vital role in integration. It is law that provides the legal backbone of Regional integration. It is law that provides the concrete rights and benefits of regional integration to businesses and individuals. It is law that allows for the free and efficient movement within the internal market. And it is also within the legal framework that the political actors meet and interact. Justice Ugirashebuja stressed that because of the importance of law, regional integration requires good cooperation between all the partners in the rule of law chain: judges, lawyers, civil servants, academics, businesses and individuals. “We all must contribute to make the EAC a living legal reality.” He stated
His Lordship emphasized on the role of the court, which is crucial in resolving disputes which would otherwise threaten the survival of a Community. That the existence of dispute is real and to an extent an important ingredient of any development as a Community. He also said that the absence of dispute should not be the focus of the evolution of the EAC, but the focus should be on how we resolve the disputes. Justice Ugirashebuja further added that without an effective dispute resolution mechanism, the survival of the Community is at stake and that without its case law, and many principles that the Court has developed and will continue to develop, the Community will certainly not be where it is today and will not arrive at where it aims to be.
The Executive Director of the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) Hon Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, who was also in attendance, commended the EACJ President, “We at the Judicial Training Institute thank the EACJ for choosing to bring to the Institute this important exercise which could have very well been held elsewhere. We appreciate and thank you for your confidence in the Institute and we hope that we are not a disappointment to you.”
Justice Adonyo also noted that the sensitization workshop will equip you the participants with relevant knowledge about the EACJ and the EAC at large so that at the end of the day you have adequate knowledge and become familiar with the institutional arrangements of the East African Community and more especially the East African Court of Justice and thus reflect on how each and every one of us can contribute to its effectiveness.
The workshop was also attended by the Hon Lady Justice Jane Kiggundu representing the Principal Judge of the High Court of Uganda, the representative of the Attorney General of the Republic of Uganda, Mr J.B.R Suuza, President of the Uganda Law Society, Mr Simon Peter M. Kibone among others.
During the workshop, there were a number of paper presentations made on the role of the judiciaries in East Africa in the integration process and the relationship of EACJ with National Courts, a paper which was presented by the President of the Court (EACJ), Hon Justice Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, a paper on the legal and Judicial framework of EAC and EACJ that was presented by the Hon Justice Dr Charles Oyo Nyawello, the Jurisprudence of the Appellate Division done by Justice Geoffrey Mupere Kiryabwire of the EACJ Appellate Division as well as Justice of the Court of Appeal of Uganda. Justice Kiryabwire also delivered a paper on the role of ICT in efficiency administration of Justice at the EACJ. Lastly there was a paper on the jurisprudence of the EACJ First Instance Division and judicial responsibilities by the Deputy Registrar Her Worship Ms Geraldine Umugwaneza and the Research Officer of the Court Ms Wanjiru Kathleen Rubia.
The Court has held the same sensitizations in some of the Partner States like the Republic of South Sudan, Burundi, now Uganda and next week will proceed to Rwanda and then later in Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi Kenya.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Yufnalis Okubo
Registrar
East African Court of Justice
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255 27 2162149
mail: Okubo [at] eachq.org
www.eacj.org
About the East African Court of Justice:
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ or ‘the Court’), is one of the organs of the East African Community established under Article 9 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. Established in November 2001, the Court’s major responsibility is to ensure the adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the EAC Treaty.
Arusha is the temporary seat of the Court until the Summit determines its permanent seat. The Court’s sub-registries are located in the respective National Courts in the Partner States.
