EAC Secretary General concludes working visit to Diplomatic Missions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 25th June, 2018: The EAC Secretary General Amb Liberat Mfumukeko over the weekend concluded his working visit to the different Diplomatic Missions in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.
The first visit was at the Chinese Embassy where he met Counsellor Lin Zhiyong, Economic and Business representative of China. The two officials had a lengthy discussion on the status of integration, projects supported by China in the region and new areas of cooperation among other things.
Counsellor Zhiyong called for EAC to take advantage of existing opportunities to export EAC-made products to the Chinese market and extended an invitation to EAC to attend the “China International Import Expo” which will take place in November 2018 in Shanghai. The two officials agreed that a seminar will soon be held to define the areas of cooperation between EAC and China.
At the US Embassy, the Secretary General met Dr. Inmi K. Patterson, Charge d’Affaires. Ms Patterson decried the low awareness about EAC and the progress of integration. She emphasized on the need for information sharing especially on the investment climate as well as EAC countries to make it easy for inter-regional Trade.
Ms Patterson pledged her support to the ongoing discussions between EAC and the US Corporate Council on Africa to enhance trade and partnerships between US and EAC private sector actors.
Amb Mfumukeko concluded his missions by visiting the Ambassador of Japan to Tanzania, H.E Masaharu Yoshida. The Secretary General briefed Amb. Yoshida on the progress of key infrastructure projects supported by the government of Japan.
Oh his part, Amb. Yoshida invited Secretary General to Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD VII) 2019 meeting in Yokohama. He advised that it will be strategic for EAC to participate.
H.E Yoshida informed Secretary General of the African Business Education Initiative for Youth which aimed at providing youths in Africa with opportunities to study at Japanese universities as well as to intern at Japanese enterprises in order to foster sustainable and sound industrial development in Africa.
In all the visits, the Secretary General reiterated on the need for partnership in implementation of the 5th EAC Development Strategy and briefed the missions on the status of integration.
Amb Mfumukeko appealed to the missions to consider supporting regional programs in addition to their bilateral support to countries.
During the three meetings it was agreed that the EAC need to improve on the business climate, eliminate non-tariff barriers and design a way of sharing investment information in a timely manner as well as regular meetings for exchange information.
The Secretary General was accompanied by by the Director of Infrastructure, Dr. Eng. Kamugisha Kazaura and the Chef de Cabinet, Dr. James Njagu.
-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