East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 25th May, 2022: The EAC’s quest to strengthen its partnerships and strategically refocus to respond to East Africans' needs, has today been affirmed by development partners, who committed to support key priorities under the 6th EAC Development Strategy.
This follows the 3rd East African Community Development Partners Group (DPG) Forum held at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, providing a platform for the EAC to share critical priorities anchored in the EAC Vision 2050, the 6th EAC Development Strategy, the Comprehensive COVID-19 recovery plan, and funding needs of the EAC Programmes and Projects.
Addressing the forum, the EAC Secretary General, Hon. (Dr) Peter Mathuki revealed the 6th EAC Development Strategy is estimated to cost US$ 691.5m over the next five years, with additional resources required to implement other critical regional programmes and projects in the different sectors. These include; 286 Heads of State Infrastructure priority projects and the nine priority projects in the health sector, which require investments amounting to US$78 billion and US$3.5 billion, respectively, over the next ten years.
“We intend to incorporate and mainstream cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth, social safeguards, and poverty reduction in our programmes and projects,” said Dr.Mathuki.
In the wake of DRC’s admission to the bloc, the Secretary General urged the partners to support the implementation of the road-map for the integration of DRC into the EAC.
In addition, the Secretary General implored the Partners to support EAC projects and activities. He expressed concern over the decline in regional funding, caused by competition for resources by other parties over the years, which has furthered bureaucracy, resulting to delays and inefficient implementation of programmes.
On her part, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Republic Tanzania, and Co-chair of the EAC –DPG Forum, H.E Regine Hess, noted that the forum provides an opportunity to promote better coordination of development support to the EAC by various development partners.
Amb. Hess appreciated the willingness of the EAC Secretariat to engage on sector specific priority areas particularly on key regional priorities given the wide and ambitious portfolio of EAC.
“Let me assured the EAC that the development Partners are committed to supporting the key priorities areas as articulated in the 6th EAC Development Strategy,” she said.
The high-level meeting was preceded by technical thematic meetings on Infrastructure and Economic Integrationwhich sought to foster synergies and leverage on the available resources, while avoiding duplication of efforts in financing EAC programmes and projects.
The forum was attended by multiple key development partners, Ambassadors accredited to the EAC; EAC Heads EAC Organs and Institutions, the East African Business Council among other stakeholders.
For more information, please contact:
Simon Peter Owaka Senior Public Relations Officer Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 768 552087 Email: sowaka [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 17th May, 2022: The East African Community (EAC), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) have officially handed over handwashing facilities to authorities in six EAC Partner States as part of efforts to strengthen cross border collaboration on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). A total of 32 such facilities have been built in high risk areas for the spread of infectious diseases in the six countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The cooperation project that ended with the hand-over of these facilities also included risk and crisis communication and sensitization measures in the respective communities.
The handwashing facility at Kamanga Point of Entry in the city of Mwanza was handed over to the government of Tanzania on 14 May, 2022. This happened during a regional meeting held from 12 to 14 May, 2022 in Mwanza that brought together national authorities, experts, decision-makers, and key stockholders from across the EAC region. The meeting also aimed to identify and address gaps in strengthening cross-border preparedness and response and promote regional standards and policies in accordance with the International Health Standards (IHS).
The programme will enhance policy and regulatory environment for competitive markets and improve infrastructure connectivity and access to ICT.
Lusaka, Thursday, May 12, 2022: Five Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are set to benefit from a new eight million euros project: Enhancement of Governance and Enabling Environment in the ICT sector (EGEE-ICT), funded by the European Union. The project was launched on Thursday 12 May, 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia.
The four-year programme covers 29 African countries from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as the lead, the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It will support the review and/or development of various regional policy and regulatory framework in a harmonized manner that will contribute to enhancing competition and improved access to cost effective and secure ICT services.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 12th May, 2022: The East African Community will conduct the 12th EAC Armed Forces Field Training Exercise (FTX) USHIRIKIANO IMARA 2022 in Jinja, Uganda from 27th May to 16th June, 2022.
The exercise will be conducted in accordance with Article 2 of the EAC Protocol on Cooperation in Defence Affairs under the theme, “Promoting Peace, Security and Stability towards the East African Community Integration.”
The main objective of the exercise is to train the Partner States’ Armed Forces, Police, Civilian components and other stakeholders in planning, and conduct an integrated mission encompassing; peace support operations, disaster management, counter terrorism and counter piracy.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th May, 2022: The European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its readiness to continue working with the East African Community (EAC) in combating terrorism and trans-national crime in the region.
The Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and the EAC, Amb. Emilio Rosetti, said that any region or country must be stable and secure to deliver on its development goals, adding that peace and stability were the building blocks for the free movement of persons, labour, goods and services, which are the essence of all integration initiatives.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th May, 2022: The East African Community Secretary General, Hon (Dr) Peter Mathuki, has hailed cordial relations between the European Union (EU) and EAC Partner States coupled with strong trade relations since 1975 under the Lomé Convention and the Cotonou Partnership Agreements.
The Secretary General said that the EU for a number of years has been supported the EAC regional integration agenda through the National Indicative Programmes (NIPs), the Regional Indicative Programme (RIP) and implementation of several East Africa Road Network/Transport Corridors, Energy projects, migration programmes and frameworks for democratic governance among other programmes.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 6th May, 2022: The new Deputy Registrar at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), Ms. Christine Mutimura-Wekesa, has formally assumed office.
Ms. Wekesa took the Judicial Oath during a special session of the Court held at the EACJ Appellate Division Courtroom at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha with the Judge President of the EACJ, Justice Nestor Kayobera, presiding assisted by other Judges.
Administering the judicial oath on behalf of the Counsel to the Community was the Principal Legal Officer at the EAC Secretariat, Mr. Michel Ndayikengerukiye.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 6th May 2022: East African Community (EAC) Ministers / Cabinet Secretary in charge of Trade and Finance have adopted 35 percent as the 4th Band of the EAC Common External Tariff (CET).
The Ministers, during a retreat on the comprehensive review of the CET, held on 5th May 2022, in Mombasa, Kenya, decided that implementation of the reviewed EAC CET shall commence on 1st July, 2022.
The meeting further agreed that there should be flexibility in implementation of the revised CET, particularly on products currently affected by the current global economic realities.
