East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 3th December, 2019: The East African Community Secretary-General, Amb, Liberat Mfumukeko yesterday received credentials from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Finland to the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E Riitta SWAN, to also serve as Ambassador to the East African Community.
Speaking at the function, Amb. SWAN said that her appointment was out of her government’s commitment to deepen its cooperation with the EAC, noting the significance of regional integration not only for East Africans, but as an important source of growth for the continent as well.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 30th November, 2019: The East African Community today marked its 20th Anniversary with pomp and fanfare at its Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Uganda’s 2nd Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for EAC Affairs, Hon. Dr. Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, who presided over the event, said that EAC Partner States would not repeat the mistake of the past that led to the collapse of the first Community.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 1st December, 2019: The 39th Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers has approved the Final Draft Cotton, Textiles and Apparels (CTA) Strategy and its Implementation Roadmap.
The strategy whose vision is to have “An integrated and globally competitive cotton, textiles and apparels industry,” makes a critical analysis of the CTA sector along the following key levels of the value chain: Cotton Seed (Production); Seed Cotton (Ginning); Cotton lint (Spinning); Yarn (Weaving/Knitting/Printing/Dyeing/Finishing), and; Fabrics (Garments/Apparels/Fabrication/Manufacturing) level.
The 39th Council which was chaired by Rwanda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and East African Community Affairs, Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, was attended by line Ministers from all the EAC Partner States and EAC Executives.
The Council further approved the Final Draft Leather and Leather Products Sector Strategy and its Implementation Roadmap.
The Council which met at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, further directed EAC Partner States to give priority to the implementation of the (CTA) and the Leather Products Sector Strategy.
In an effort to promote the textiles and apparels sector in East Africa, the Ministers directed Partner States to encourage sustainable procurement of all institutional uniforms, beddings, draperies by state institutions from textiles and fabric industries the region.
The Council directed the Sectoral Council on Agriculture and Food Security to develop a strategy to boost the production of cotton in the region.
In their deliberations, the Ministers observed that the seed cotton sector was constrained by low and declining production, low productivity, low quality and fluctuating farm gate prices. Textile mills were further constrained by outdated technology; low spinning capacity, availability of cotton lint, high cost of energy and low skill levels.
The Ministers were informed that inadequate supply of cotton lint forces millers to either buy or hold stock covering a one-year production cycle, or to shut down their production during off-seasons when they lack funds for bulk purchases.
The apparels sector on the other hand suffers mainly from low skills, low local market penetration by local producers and unfavourable trade practices particularly contraband and used clothes.
The EAC Strategy and Implementation Roadmap for Leather, Leather Products and Footwear Sector is a response to directive by the 19th Summit of EAC Heads of State held in 2018 concerning the promotion of the cotton, textile, apparel and leather industries in the region, with a view to making the region more competitive and creating jobs.
The Summit further directed the Council to implement the directive and put in place a mechanism that supports textile and leather manufacturing in EAC.
The strategy whose vision is to have “An integrated and globally competitive leather and leather products industry” makes a critical analysis of the sector along all other levels of leather and leather products value chain.
The Council referred the request for admission to the EAC from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the 21st Summit of the EAC Heads of State for consideration.
The Session had been informed that Chairperson of the Council had written to the EAC Secretariat on the request of the Democratic Republic of Congo to join the Community. The Council noted that Article 3 of the Treaty provides the matters to be taken into account by Partner States in considering the application by a foreign country to become a member of the Community.
On investment promotion within the region, the Council approved the Draft EAC Export Promotion Strategy 2020 – 2025 for implementation.
The EPS 2020-2025 contains the following strategic interventions: Stimulate exports through acquired market intelligence for enterprises and improved visibility on international markets; Improve market access and conditions for EAC Export; Strengthen export competitiveness through interventions like improved access to finance and technology for enterprises, in particular SMEs, and; Strengthen the trade support institutions and partnerships.
The Council was informed that 60 students from five Partner States had been awarded fully paid postgraduate scholarships under KFW scholarship programme tenable at various institutions of higher learning within the EAC from September this year.
The scholarship programme, an initiative of a Tripartite Financing Agreement between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (KFW), the EAC and Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) for a non-repayable grant of 5 million Euros, was signed in April 2018, with IUCEA being selected as the Project Executing Agency (PEA).
The programme’s objective is to enable poor and disadvantaged but academically gifted students pursue graduate studies in the EAC (so-called Change Agents) to foster regional integration. The scholarship programme supports postgraduate students in Mathematics, Engineering, Informatics, Science, Technology and Business Science programmes.
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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, 28th November, 2019: After a one-year-long work of platform construction and information upload, the new continental women's platform was launched on November 26, during the Global Gender Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
The platform is intended to connect 50 million African women in business across 38 African countries.
The portal (www.womenconnect.org) and mobile application (50MAWSP) come to solve the information issue that African women in business face when it comes to accessing available information on financial and non-financial services.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 27th November, 2019: The EU Ambassador to Tanzania and the East African Community, H.E. Manfredo Fanti, and the EAC Secretary-General, H.E. Libérat Mfumukeko, today launched a new 10 million Euros (approx. TShs25.38 billion) joint programme to address regional and cross border security threats in the region.
The programme is a regional response to the various and growing security threats across the EAC region. It will work both on enhancing the technical capacities and building trust between the law enforcement agencies in the EAC Partner States. Without mutual trust, data and information will not be shared. The shared aim is to intercept those engaged in transnational organised crime.
The East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC), an Institution of the East African Community (EAC), has established the Young East African Health Research Scientists Forum (YEARS' FORUM) which is an initiative that aims at empowering young East African researchers to be able to shape the future of research for health in the region.
YEARS’ Forum was approved by the 15th EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health (EAC/Health/15SCM/Decision 22) as one of the pre-conference meetings of the East African Health and Scientific Conference (EAHSC) and launched by the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania during the 7th EAHSC held in Dar es Salaam from 27th – 29th March 2019. YEARS’ Forum creates a culture of research and support for young scientists in health science by building a network of six PhD students from each of the six EAC countries (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) and linking them with a network of senior health research professionals across the region, and at the same time each of the six PhD students establishing a team of six members with similar interest in his/her country to work together in defined research activities.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 26th November, 2019: The East African Community(EAC) prayer breakfast organized as part of the activities to commemorate the Community’s two decades of existence was held today at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The well-attended prayer breakfast themed; EAC@20: Deepening Integration, Widening Cooperation was attended by EAC heads of Organs and Institutions, Permanent/ Principal Secretaries from Partner States, Heads of religious groups in Arusha, Members of East African Legislative Assembly, staff of the community as well as other stakeholders of EAC.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd November, 2019: The East African Community has launched a Citizens Engagement Campaign as part of its 20th Anniversary celebrations.
The campaign dubbed as ‘The EAC I Deserve’ seeks to reach more than 10 million East Africans over the next one year.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd November, 2019: The 39th Meeting of the East African Community Council of Ministers is currently underway in Arusha, Tanzania.
The 39thMeeting of the Council will run from 21st to 28th November, 2019.It is composed of three sessions which are, the Session of Senior Officials which is being held from Thursday, 21st to Saturday, 23rd November, 2019; the Coordination Committee or the Session of Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries slated for Monday, 25th and Tuesday, 26th November, 2019, and; the Ministerial session set for Wednesday, 27th November, 2019.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd November, 2019: Denmark’s new Ambassador to Tanzania and the East African Community, Ms. Mette Norgaard Dissing-Spandet, presented her credentials to EAC Secretary General Amb. Libérat Mfumukeko at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Amb. Dissing-Spandet informed the Secretary General that the concept of regional integration was dear to Denmark as country despite the challenges facing integration and multilateral cooperation at the moment all over the world.
