EAC and Germany hold successful Government Negotiations
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 5th October, 2018: Germany has committed funding worth 61.5 million Euros to mark the 20th anniversary of her joint partnership with the East African Community.
On 5th October, the EAC Secretariat welcomed a delegation from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany to discuss the future cooperation between both sides. These Government Negotiations are another milestone in the close EAC-German development cooperation.
The negotiations were led by H.E. Libérat Mfumukeko, Secretary General of the EAC, and Mr Niels Breyer, Head of the Division East Africa at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Germany.
The Head of the German Delegation commended the EAC on its accomplishments and underlined that EAC-German cooperation contributes significantly to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mr Breyer further elaborated that Germany’s support to the EAC is based on Germany’s strategy as set forth in the Marshall Plan with Africa that aims to support partner countries in implementing the development visions and reform goals of the African Union's Agenda 2063.
Mr Breyer stressed the need for mutual commitments and called on the EAC to strengthen their own financial resources. He pointed out that closer economic cooperation will lead to the creation of job opportunities and improve the long-term prospects for young people throughout the region. With reference to the health sector, Mr Breyer stressed that a functioning health system is an important element in supporting the EAC in its further sustainable development and serves as a foundation for a strong workforce and thus for sustainable economic development.
In his remarks, EAC Secretary General Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko hailed German support over the past two decades which had enabled the Community to record significant achievements in diverse sectors, namely: Health and Pharmaceuticals, Trade and Customs; Gender and Education; monetary harmonization; institutional capacity strengthening, and; support to the Partnership Fund.
“We at the EAC fully embrace the priority areas embedded in the German Marshall Plan which include: economic diversification and boosting private sector investment and mobilization of private capital; value addition; investment in entrepreneurship, and technical and vocational training,” said Amb. Mfumukeko.
Both sides agreed to continue and extend their ongoing cooperation in the two focal areas of cooperation: “Regional Economic and Social Integration” and “Health”. In total, the German government committed €61.5 million for programmes with the EAC Secretariat in those fields.
In the area of “Regional Economic and Social Integration”, the German side committed €9.5 million for the follow-on programme “Support to the EAC integration process” that will go to promoting intra-regional trade through value addition in productive sectors, better market access, improved customs processes and harmonized standards.
Euro 1 million will be in support for the ongoing programme “Strengthening of a Regional Quality Infrastructure” that focusses on reliable quality control mechanism and services for products traded in the EAC region and exported abroad, specifically in the pharmaceutical sector as well as in subsectors of agro-processing.
In the area of health, the German government has committed €30 million for the Immunization programme which is implemented through Gavi, the Vaccine alliance. Moreover, €13 million will be for additional support of the Regional Network of Laboratories for Communicable Diseases that aims at enabling the EAC and its Partner States to diagnose potentially epidemic diseases, monitor anti-microbial resistance quickly and reliably on the ground and to launch effective responses immediately. Furthermore, the German government committed €3 million for the ongoing technical cooperation programme “Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC-Region” which supports the EAC Secretariat in its coordinating and advisory role in pandemic preparedness for the Partner States.
With these new commitments, support of the EAC by the German government now amounts up to approximately €350 million.
Germany has been a strong supporter of the regional organization for two decades. On the occasion of this 20thanniversary, the German delegation and the EAC Secretariat joined in celebrations on the evening of 5th October at the EAC Headquarters.
Accompanying Mr Breyer in the German delegation at the bilateral negotiations were Mr Georg Rademacher, Senior Policy Officer for East Africa at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Dr Detlef Waechter, the German Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC.
With Amb. Mfumukeko for the EAC were Deputy Secretaries General Hon. Christophe Bazivamo (Productive and Social Sectors) and Eng. Steven Mlote (Planning and Infrastructure). Others were the Executive Secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, Dr Said Matano, and Deputy Executive Secretaries Prof. Mike Kuria (Inter-University Council for East Africa) and Prof. Saidi Kibeya (East African Science and Technology Commission).
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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