2nd EAC Development Partners Forum held in Arusha

Posted in Resource Mobilization

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 23^rd October, 2018: The 2nd East African Community Development Partners Consultative Forum aimed at promoting better coordination of development support to the EAC by various development partners was held today at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

The forum sought to foster synergies and leverage available resources while avoiding duplication of efforts in financing EAC programmes and projects.  

Addressing the forum, the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko saidover the last five years, Development Partners had committed about $500 million direct and technical support to various aspects of the EAC integration.

“With this revamped collaboration, the EAC has been able to progress the integration agenda with remarkable speed,” said the Secretary General.

He diclsosed that the main contributors to the EAC Development Programmes include Germany, the USA through USAID East Africa, European Union (EU), and the African Development Bank. The total German contribution to EAC amounts to€286,541,354.42; USAID $237,823,555; and the EU Euro 65,000,000.  

Amb. Mfumukeko expressed EAC appreciation for the approval of the African Development Bank Regional Integration Strategy Paper for Eastern Africa (EA-RISP 2018-22), in which EAC Projects worth about US$2 billion have been considered in the RISP indicative operational programme. This includes loans to the EAC Partner States for regional programmes and grant to the EAC.

The Secretary General said that the EAC has transformed itself from a loose co-operation framework into a fast-emerging, solid and dynamic regional economic bloc.  He added that the EAC has evolved strong institutions and vigorous programme delivery, which are already making an impact on the economies of the region.

Amb. Mfumukeko disclosed to the participants that the EAC has been ranked as first among the eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs) from the recently Africa Regional Integration Index Report launched  in Addis Ababa through the collaboration between the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union Commission (AUC)

He however called for more partnerships with the business community and, in particular, the East African Business Council in industrial development through investment in private sector development, improvement of doing business environment and finally an enhance.

On his part, the head of Delegation of the European Union, Amb. Roeland van de Geer, said the forum is valuable for Development Partners to ensure an alignment of their respective cooperation programmes with those of the EAC.

He appreciated the willingness of the EAC Secretariat to engage on sector specific priority areas  particulary on key regional priorities given the wide and ambitious portfolio of EAC. 

Amb. Roeland emphasized the need for involving all EAC institutions and representatives of key regional non-state actors including the private sector in the forum to share  their valuable experience of regional integration.

Amb. Roeland assured the EAC that all Development Partners are willing to support the key priorities of as EAC articulated in the 5^th Development Strategy endorsed in February 2018.

In his remarks, Mr. Marcellin Ndong Ntah, the lead Economist from the African Development Bank said the Development Partners Consultative Forum promotes the principle of ownership of the development assistance that may be availed to the EAC and its Partner states to drive Region’s development agenda.

Mr. Ndong hailed the EAC for establishing the forum noting that it would enable better coordination of development assistance by Development Partners to the Community.

The 2nd EAC Development Partners Consultative Forum was attended by: Ambassadors accredited to the EAC; Members of the Proposed EAC Development Partners Group; Other EAC Development Partners and Representatives from EAC Organs and Institutions among other.

-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

African Development Bank and African Development Fund approve Regional Integration Strategy with Projects worth US$2 Bn for EAC Region

Posted in Resource Mobilization

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 15^th October 2018: The African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Development Fund (ADF) have approve the Regional Integration Strategy with Projects worth USD2 Billion for EAC Region. The African Development Bank is among the top EAC Development Partners. The Bank’s support in the Region is oriented toward “Accelerating East Africa’s Transformation through Regional Integration”.

Since July 2017, the EAC Secretariat has been working with the Bank on a proposal to support the EAC priority projects under the Bank’s Regional Integration Strategy Paper (RISP) for Eastern Africa (EA-RISP 2018-22). The efforts to engage with the Bank are in line with the outcome of the Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat concluded on 28^th February 2018 in Kampala, Uganda, at which the Secretariat was called upon to collaborate with development partners to “Mobilize resources required for implementation of new and ongoing priority infrastructure projects”.

 A total of 20 projects worth $2 billion to be implemented by the EAC and EAC Partner States are included under the EA-RISP approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors on 10^th October 2018 for the next five years.

Accordingly to a press release issued by the Bank on 12^th October, 2018 the RISP is the Bank’s strategic and programming instrument to guide its support to regional operations in 13 countries, comprising the six EAC Partner States and their congruous neighbours in the greater Eastern Africa region such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan. EA-RISP is anchored on two mutually reinforcing pillars, namely ‘regional infrastructure for competitiveness and structural transformation’, and ‘strengthening the policy and institutional frameworks for market integration, growing investments and value chains development.

In line with this strategic thrust, the EAC priority projects included in the RISP cover regional transport connectivity, regional energy infrastructure, regional ICT connectivity, and management of transboundary water resources.

Under the second pillar, the Bank will support projects aimed at accelerating implementation of the EAC single market, trade development including tackling of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), and putting in place policy frameworks for industrialization and promotion of EAC as a single investment destination. On financial market integration, the Bank aims to scale up implementation of the EAC payment and settlement systems integration. A number of knowledge products have also been prioritized, including publication of the flagship Eastern Africa Industrial Competitiveness Report in collaboration with UNIDO.

The Bank has indicated that the indicative operational program updated at the Mid-Term Review in 2020.  A range of instruments will be deployed to finance the selected projects, including the Bank concessional resources under the African development Fund (ADF) window, its non-concessional resources under the African Development Bank (ADB) window, trust funds and blending instruments, including through collaboration with other development partners such as the European Union, French Development Agency (AFD), and China’s Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF).

-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

 EAC and Germany hold successful Government Negotiations

Posted in Resource Mobilization

​​East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 5^th October, 2018: Germany has committed funding worth 61.5 million Euros to mark the 20^th 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 20^thanniversary, the German delegation and the EAC Secretariat joined in celebrations on the evening of 5^th 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). 

- ENDS-

 For more information please contact: 
Owora Richard Othieno, 
Head of Department, 
Corporate Communications and Public Affairs; 
Tel: +255 784 835021; 
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

OR

John Merikion
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Dar es Salaam
Tel.: +255-22-2212-300

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

EAC-Germany Sign Financing and Project Agreement worth 5 Million Euros for Scholarship Programme

Posted in Resource Mobilization

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 11th April, 2018: The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko has held discussions with officials from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ministries for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Foreign Affairs, and KfW Development Bank on regional priorities for collaboration for the next three (3) years and signed a five (5) million Euros agreement to support the scholarship programme for East African students.
 
BMZ delegation was led by Hon. Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary; Germany Foreign Ministry delegation was led by Amb. Georg Schmidt, Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel; and KFW delegation was led by Dr. Klaus Müller, KFW Director Eastern Africa, DR Congo, and African Union.
 
Amb. Mfumukeko informed his hosts that the main purpose of his visit to the three Institutions to appreciate the support of the Federal Republic of Germany is giving to the EAC integration agenda. He reiterated that for almost two decades, the Federal Republic of Germany has been supporting EAC through financial as well as technical cooperation and that so far Germany's contribution to the EAC amounts was almost Euro 285 million.

The Federal Republic of Germany has been supporting the EAC in Health and Pharmaceutical Sectors; Trade and Customs; Gender and Education; Monetary harmonization, Institutional Capacity Strengthening and EAC Partnership Fund.
 
During the meetings, the Secretary General highlighted the EAC priorities for the next 5-year years as spelt out in the 5th EAC Development Strategy, which was launched by the EAC Heads of State in February 2018. These include, among others, consolidation of the Single Customs Territory (SCT) to cover all imports and intra-EAC traded goods, including agricultural and other widely consumed products; infrastructure development; further liberalization of free movement of labor across the Partner States; and enhancement of regional industrial development through investment in key priority sectors, skills development, technological advancement and innovation to stimulate economic development.
 
Others include improvement of agricultural productivity, value addition and facilitation of movement of agricultural goods to enhance food security in the region; promotion of regional peace, security and good governance; and institutional transformation at the regional and Partner State levels.

In addition to the areas that the Federal Republic is currently supporting, the Secretary General requested Germany to consider support the sectors of Agriculture, Industrial development especially Agro-processing, and ICT as part of institutional transformation.
 
In regard to support to agriculture. Dr. Klaus Müller, the KFW Director Eastern Africa, DR Congo, and African Union, urged the EAC to explore a mechanism of using the well-established East African Development Bank to channel some support to the smallholder farmers.
 
The possibility of channeling funds through commercial banks with specifics/favorable terms and conditions geared towards promoting companies acting in that sector was also discussed. KFW indicated that it was already supporting Agriculture initiatives at bilateral level but always channels the support through Development Banks.
 
The German officials agreed to explore different ways to support the EAC Agriculture at regional level, as well as ICT. Indeed ICT enhancement will enhance transparency and value for money in the regional bloc.

On industrial development, it was agreed that Germany and EAC shall collaborate for technology transfer, experience sharing and possibility of doing business to enable direct access to markets for EAC companies. KFW and EAC also discussed how the immunization programme with GAVI could be shaped up in the next 3 years.
 
On the scholarship programme, KFW recommended that the EAC should mobilize additional funds to support the propgramme from the Partner States contribution but also from other donors.
 
The Scholarship Programme will be implemented in cooperation with the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) and KFW. The objective of this programme is to promote EAC’s regional integration agenda by supporting higher education students and their role in fostering awareness for the East African integration process, creating social change as well as economic growth.

Under Component A “Scholarships”, the Project offers financial support for academically skilled but disadvantaged master students with the main focus on Mathematic, Informatics, Science, Technology (MINT) or Business Science and women are especially encourage to join MINT-courses.

The students shall also become acquainted with another country of the EAC through a semester or full studies abroad, based on individual preferences. Comparable to the European Erasmus Programme, a higher degree of regional identity shall be promoted. At the Universities mentors will be selected in order to support the students during the master programme. The project shall finance the first three cohorts of master students of approx.157 students over their full study time of 2 years.

Component C will support capacity building within EAC and Partner States, and will be implemented by the EAC Secretariat.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Hon. Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary reiterated the continued support by the Federal Republic of Germany to the education sector in the EAC. She said that her government was contented with the support to EAC to deepen the integration process, asserting that “for successful regional integration and development, young generation matters a lot, therefore the scholarship programme is very key”.

Also present at the meetings were Mr. Niels Breyer, Head of East African Division BMZ; George Rademacher, Deputy Head of East African Division BMZ; Mr. Ralph Timmermann, BMZ Head of Division East Africa, Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan; and Mrs Arlina Elmiger, KFW Head of Division Health and Education.