… Report of the Verification Mission on the Admission of Somalia into the EAC is among items on the Agenda
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 20th February, 2023: The 43rd Ordinary Meeting of the East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers is currently underway via hybrid (physical and virtual) means in Bujumbura, Burundi.
The five-day meeting from 19th – 23rd February, 2023 is being conducted through the Session of Senior Officials which ends on Tuesday, 21st,February 2022, the session of the Coordination Committee (Permanent /Principal/Under Secretaries) set for Wednesday, 22nd February, 2023 and the Ministerial session that will take place on Thursday, 23rd February, 2023.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 14th February, 2023:The East African Community (EAC) has secured US$1.4 million for a feasibility study on a key section of the Northern Transport Corridor linking the Republic of Kenya and the Republic of Uganda.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Eng. Steven Mlote, disclosed that the funding from the African Development Bank would be used to conduct feasibility studies on the 256 km multinational Kisumu-Kisian-Busia/Kakira – Malaba-Busitema-Busia expressway project.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 13th February, 2023: The EAC Secretariat is developing an EAC Diaspora Policy and Plan of Action to establish a strategic framework for mobilising and integrating East African Diaspora in the regional integration process and harnessing communication links within the East African Diaspora community.
The process, which is supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), includes assessing Diaspora-related information and proposing the ideal data sharing and protection principle among the key stakeholders.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 7th February, 2023: The 18th meeting of the Sectoral Council on Transport Communications and Meteorology (TCM) is currently underway at the Royal Palace Hotel in Bujumbura, Burundi.
The five-day meeting from 6th -10th February, 2023 brings together stakeholders from the Government Ministries in the Partner States, agencies, regional organizations and the private sector to discuss challenges in the development of infrastructure and make recommendations on how to address them.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 6th February, 2023: The East African Community (EAC) has re-launched the Nyerere Centre for Peace Research as part of the Community’s commitment to enhance peace and security, good governance and joint common foreign policy pursuits in order to promote regional integration and development.
The research centre is set to support the EAC in undertaking timely, relevant and empirical research on peace and security issues in the region hence ensuring that policy decisions adopted at EAC level are consistent with other international legal instruments.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 25th January,2023: The East African Community (EAC) today officially launched the verification mission to assess the Federal Republic of Somalia’s readiness to join the Community.
The verification team comprising of experts from the EAC Partner States shall be in Somalia from 25th January to 3rd February, 2023, to establish the country’s level of conformity with the criteria for admitting foreign countries as provided in the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC.
Speaking during the official launch, EAC Secretary General Hon (Dr.) Peter Mathuki disclosed that the technical team in Mogadishu will engage Somalia to ensure that the verification was finalized and a report completed in time in readiness for presentation to the EAC Council of Ministers who will table it for consideration by the 23rd Summit of EAC Heads of State scheduled for the end of February 2023.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 19th January2023: African countries have been asked to provide investment incentives to businesses operating in the agribusiness, green and blue economy in order to reduce the soaring costs of basic foodstuffs coupled with rising inflation in Africa.
African Governments have further been urged to facilitate access to capital and crowd-funding to support SMEs in Africa, through the use of Government Guarantee Funds (GGFs) and Privately Driven Guarantee Funds (PDGFs) including subsidizing agricultural production for key sectors such as cereals, vegetable, and palm oil to reduce the costs of production to enhance global competitiveness.
The Former President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, in his capacity as the Facilitator of the East African Community (EAC), Led- Nairobi Process on restoration of peace in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had the occasion to meet with the chairman and senior political & military leaders of the M-23 group, in order to seek to restore peace in Eastern (DRC).
In a demonstration of goodwill and the willingness to work towards the settlement of the situation in North Kivu, the M-23 leaders agreed to continue with an orderly withdrawal and to adhere to a strict cease-fire. They further agreed to continue to respect and cooperate with the East African Regional Force (EARF) that has now begun to take control of the areas vacated by the M-23; a process that is in adherence to the decision of the extraordinary meeting of the EAC Chiefs of General Staff held in Bujumbura on 8'h November 2022.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 12th January, 2023: Intra-regional trade within the East African Community (EAC) is on an upward trajectory, standing at US$10.17 billion in September 2022.
The intra-EAC trade, accounting for imports and exports in the 7 EAC Partner States, grew from 13% in 2019 at a value of $ 7.1 billion to 15 % in 2021 at a value of $9.5 billion. By September 2022, the EAC trade value was recorded at $10.17 billion representing a 20% share of Intra-trade to global trade.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 18th December, 2022: East African Community (EAC) Partner States have been called upon to seek local solutions to the huge gap in financing facing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the region.
Uganda’s Minister of State for EAC Affairs, Hon. James Magode Ikuya, further urged the Partner States to address the twin issues of limited skills for production and poor standards and quality of products among others.
