The 17th Ordinary East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit has been rescheduled for 2nd March, 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania.
Top on the agenda of the long-awaited meeting will be the consideration of reports by the EAC Council of Ministers on: the negotiations on the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community; Sustainable Financing Mechanisms for the EAC, and; the EAC Institutional Review.
The meeting will also consider Council reports on: the Model, Structure and Action Plan of the EAC Political Federation; Implementation of the Framework for Harmonized EAC Roaming Charges; Modalities for Promotion of Motor Vehicle Assembly in the region and Reduction of the Importation of Used Motor Vehicles from Outside the Community, and; the Promotion of the Textile and Leather Industries in the region, and stopping importation of Used Clothes, Shoes and Other Leather Products from outside the region.
The Summit is also expected to deliberate on a report by the Council on the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC.
The Heads of State are expected to launch the new International East African e-Passport (electronic-passport) during the meeting.
Also scheduled to be launched by the Summit is the Private Sector Fund which is expected to deepen the participation of the private sector in the East African integration process.
The Summit will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha on 29th February, 2016.
The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, received credentials from the Belgian and European Union Ambassadors who have been accredited to the East African Community.
While presenting his credentials to Dr. Sezibera, Belgian Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Paul Cartier, said his country was keen on strengthening her relations with the Community. Amb. Cartier said Belgium wants to be part of the solution to various challenges facing the EAC.
In his remarks, Amb. Dr Sezibera thanked the Belgian government for her offer of additional support to the EAC, adding that a framework of agreement for cooperation will be developed between Belgium and the Community.
The Secretary General hailed Belgium for her contribution to the Partnership Fund, which has enabled the EAC to undertake programmes and projects in various sectors. The Head of the EU Delegation to Tanzania and to the EAC, H.E. Mr. Roeland van de Geer, also presented his credentials to the Secretary General.
Amb. van de Geer noted that the EU's assistance to the EAC was broad covering almost all sectors of the integration agenda, reaffirming that the EU would continue providing this support. He urged the EAC to identify and prioritize the areas in which it would require increased support from the EU.
Amb. Sezibera and Amb. van de Geer agreed to hold bilateral talks to re-examine the cooperation framework between the EAC and the EU with the goal of making improvements, with technical teams from both sides exploring areas for future cooperation.
Amb. van de Geer conveyed the EU's condolences to the EAC and the family of the late Ms. Isabelle Wafubbwa, the Principal Political Affairs Officer, at the Community who passed on recently. He described Ms. Wafubbwa as having been instrumental in cooperation between the two regional economic communities especially in the field of political integration.
Japan has committed to support the EAC regional integration agenda and to strengthen areas of cooperation between herself and the East African Community. This was revealed today during a consultative meeting between representatives of the Government of Japan and the EAC Secretariat held at the EAC Headquarters, in Arusha.
The Deputy Ambassador of Japan to the United Republic of Tanzania, Counselor Hiroyuki Kubota underscored Japan’s commitment to support and engage the EAC in various development projects and programmes between the two regions. “The Government of Japan firmly believes that in order to foster socio-economic development, the involvement of the private sector is key, and with this, the Government of Japan is committed to facilitating the involvement of the private sector in both regions to play its critical role in the EAC integration agenda,” he remarked.
The EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera expressed his appreciation to the Government of Japan for the ongoing support to the EAC both at the regional as well as bilateral levels. “The collaboration with Japan ranks highly in terms of its contributions toward deeper EAC integration,” he noted.
Amb. Sezibera highlighted Japan’s critical role in supporting the EAC agenda, noting her support in the development of the One Stop Border Posts (both hard and soft infrastructure); development of the Vehicle Load Control and the One Stop Border Post laws that are currently under going gazettement; co-financing with African Development Bank of the Arusha – Namanga – Athi River Road and various ports projects at the bilateral levels.
Present at the consultations was Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanzania Office, Chief Representative, Mr Toshio Nagase who underscored Japan’s commitment to deliver on all projects committed under the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), reaffirming that those with various implementation challenges would soon be back on track, such as the Bujumbura Port Project.
Mr Nagase further informed the meeting that preparations for TICAD VI where underway and will address two thematic areas: human resources development and regional connectivity. “I call upon the EAC to propose priority projects under TICAD VI that are aligned to the two TICAV VI themes,” he added.
In concluding their consultations, the two parties agreed to look into modalities of hosting a side event, jointly sponsored by EAC and Japan, on the sidelines of TICAD VI slated for August 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Present at the consultative meeting were JICA Tanzania Office Representative, Mr Nobuyuki Kobe, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Dr Enos Bukuku and EAC Director of Infrastructure, Mr Phillip Wambugu.
Egypt has committed to improve areas of cooperation between herself and the East African Community.
Egypt’s new Ambassador to the Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Mohammed Yasser Ala’Eldeen El Shawaf, said his country was eager to boost trade and technical cooperation with the EAC Partner States.
Amb. Shawaf made the remarks after he presented his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha today.
Welcoming the Egyptian Ambassador, Dr Sezibera described Egypt as an important trading partner for the EAC and praised its outstanding role in promoting negotiations for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EAC, COMESA and SADC.
Dr Sezibera noted that the Tripartite FTA when fully implemented would move the African Continent from the margins of Global Trade, adding that it was a good basis for the Continental Free Trade Area envisioned by the African Union.
The Secretary General thanked Egypt for making a tariff offer to the EAC and went on to request Egypt to encourage the other member states to negotiate as a bloc instead of doing so as separate entities saying this would hasten the operationalization of the Tripartite FTA.
The 17th Ordinary East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit has been set for the 29th February, 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania.
Top on the agenda is the consideration of reports by the EAC Council of Ministers on: the negotiations on the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community; Sustainable Financing Mechanisms for the EAC; and the EAC Institutional Review.
The meeting will also consider Council reports on: the Model, Structure and Action Plan of the EAC Political Federation; Implementation of the Framework for Harmonized EAC Roaming Charges; Modalities for Promotion of Motor Vehicle Assembly in the region and Reduction of the Importation of Used Motor Vehicles from Outside the Community; and the Promotion of the Textile and Leather Industries in the region, and stopping importation of used clothes, shoes and other leather products from outside the region.
The Summit is also expected to deliberate on a report by the Council on the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC.
The Heads of State are expected to launch the new International East African e-Passport (electronic-Passport) during their meeting.
The Summit will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha from 22nd to 27th, February, 2016.
Sweden has pledged to continue supporting the East African Community integration process.
Ambassador Katarina Rangnitt, the Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, said cooperation among the five EAC Partner States was crucial to relations between Sweden and East Africa.
Amb. Rangnitt was speaking when she presented her credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Sweden has over the past nine years disbursed generous financial support amounting to 7,225,155 Swedish Kroner (US$851,676) to the EAC, monies that have been channeled through the EAC Partnership Fund.
Welcoming the Swedish envoy, Amb. Dr Sezibera thanked Sweden for her support to the Community over the years noting that the Swedish support has been used for among other things the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements between the EAC and the EU as well as boosting the health sector in the region.
Amb. Sezibera said the Partnership Fund has been used to finance not just the activities of the EAC Secretariat but the Community's specialized institutions such as the Lake Victoria Basin Commission and the Inter-University Council of East Africa.
The Secretary General briefed Amb. Rangnit on the progress of the EAC integration saying the Community had made many achievements since the signing of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC on 30th November, 1999.
Amb. Sezibera said the EAC was seeking to ensure that the regional airspace was a unified territory throughout East Africa.
“As we increasingly become an effective Customs Union on the ground, we shall have to do the same for East Africa's Airspace,” he said, adding that you cannot have a Customs Union on the ground only.
The Secretary General said the Community requires a lot of support to facilitate trade in services noting that significant progress had already been recorded in the free movement of goods as enshrined in the Common Market Protocol.
He pointed out other achievements as the reduction of Non-Tariff Barriers to the free movement of goods, the convertibility of the Partner States national currencies and cooperation in the development of infrastructure.
“Our Infrastructure programmes are largely on track. Many of the One Stop Border Posts have been completed, and are being operationalized. I congratulate the Partner States for ratifying the One Stop Border Bill, and the Axle Weight Control Bill. This puts our Community in good stead to strengthen the operations of our Customs Union,” he said.
He disclosed that the EAC Heads of State Summit had agreed on a 10-year Infrastructure Development Strategy which among other things lays emphasis on public-private partnership investments in railways, roads, ports and energy in the region.
Amb. Rangnitt was accompanied by Mr. Ludvig Bontell, the Political and Commercial Affairs attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
The 23rd Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers Responsible for EAC Affairs and Planning (SCMEACP) kicked off in Arusha, Tanzania today.
The five day meeting started with the Session of Senior Officials which will run from 8 - 10 February, 2016, followed by the Session of Permanent/Principal Secretaries that will take place from 10 – 11 February, 2016. The meeting will be capped by the Ministerial Session which will take place on Friday, 12 February, 2016.
Among the items on the agenda of the meeting are:
Consideration of report on the Implementation of previous decisions of the SCMEACP;
Consideration of a Progress Report on the Status of Implementation of the EAC Common Market;
Consideration of a Progress Report on the Elimination of Non-tariff Barriers;
Consideration of a Progress Report on COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Arrangement;
Consideration of Declaration on the Establishment of the EAC Common Higher Education Area, and;
Progress Report on the Study on Equitable Sharing of Benefits and Costs of EAC Integration.
The Session of Senior Officials is being chaired by Mr. Eliabi Chidota from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional and International Cooperation in the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania is the current Chair of the Community.
The Session was officially opened by the EAC’s Deputy Secretary General for Planning and Infrastructure, Dr Enos Bukuku. Also present at the official opening was the Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sectors), Hon. Jesca Eriyo.
