East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd August,2023: Negotiations between the East African Community (EAC) and the Federal Republic of Somalia for the entry of Somalia into the EAC begun in earnest in Nairobi, Kenya today.
The nine-day negotiations have brought together experts from the seven (7) EAC Partner States, the EAC Secretariat, East African Legislative Assembly and East African Court of Justice, and their counterparts from the Federal Republic of Somalia.
East African Court of Justice, 22nd August 2023: The Chairperson of the Summit of the East African Community Heads of State, H.E Évariste Ndayishimiye, has today, at the Ntare State House in Bujumbura, officiated over the swearing in ceremony of the newly appointed Judge of the East African Court of Justice in the Appellate Division, Hon. Justice Omar Othman Makungu from the United Republic of Tanzania.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 17th August, 2023: The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki, on Wednesday flagged off 22 cyclists who are participating in the 2023 edition of the Great African Cycling Safari (GACS) that will take them across five Partner States, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
The cyclists who are on the third leg of their tour that will take them to Tanga, Dar es Salaam and Dodoma before heading to Burundi will cover a total of 6,000 km by the time their trip ends in Uganda in mid-September. The cyclists were flagged off in Jinja, Uganda on 1st August, 2023. More than 1,000 cyclists are expected to join the core cycling team at different stages as they ride across the Partner States.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 16th August, 2023: Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs) and protectionism at the national level have been identified as the key factors impeding the growth of intra-EAC trade.
The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki said that the region was therefore working continuously to eliminate NTBs with 26 NTBs having been resolved out of the 33 that had been reported as of June 2023.
Dr. Mathuki added that seven (7) NTBs remained outstanding but were at different levels of resolution.
“To facilitate free movement of goods, Partner States have effectively eliminated Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) as they arise and have cumulatively eliminated a significant number of 184 NTBs with only a few remain outstanding,” said Dr. Mathuki.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 15th August, 2023: The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki, hosted the President of the American Chinese CEO Society, Mr. Robert Sun, for a discussion on investment opportunities in all EAC Partner States.
The two leaders discussed the EAC's plans to host the Africa and China - US Business Summit in 2024. The Summit is expected to attract over 500 CEOs and investors from China and the United States seeking investment opportunities in the EAC.
Kampala, Uganda, 25th July 2023 - The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) is pleased to announce that thirty-five (35) scholarships have been awarded to applicants from the six (6) East African Community Partner States (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania & Uganda).
The call for the 4th cohort attracted a total of 975 applications both in soft and hard copies. The applications originated from the 7 Partner States of the EAC. The applicants were subjected to a rigorous selection process involving pre-admission into the university and scholarship assessment. This was followed by oral interviews conducted virtually by Kyundong University South Korea.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 20th July, 2023: Retired Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma has reaffirmed the critical role of national and regional courts in strengthening the democratisation process and promoting good governance in Africa.
President Koroma said that regional courts such as the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) complement national courts in upholding the rule of law and the respect for human rights thereby sustaining the growth of democracy on the continent.
President Koroma said that in instances where people had lost faith in judicial systems, there were inherent risks for sustainable peace and stability.
Kampala, 20thJuly, 2023:The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the second phase of its Headquarters in Kampala. The project worth over USD8.4 million is expected to be completed within 18 months.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony held at IUCEA Headquarters in Kampala, the Chief Guest, the 1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community (EAC) Affairs, Republic of Uganda, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, reiterated the commitment of EAC Partner States to support IUCEA to deliver its mandate including operationalisation of EAC Common Higher Education Area.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 12th July, 2023: African Union Members States have been called upon to adopt policies to encourage intra-African trade in food production by among other things removing Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs) that currently make imports from outside the continent costly compared to locally produced food.
AU Member States were further urged to invest in irrigation agriculture by moving away from the reliance on rain-fed agriculture.
African countries were called upon to adopt policies that motivate the youth to take part in agriculture to ensure increased production and reduce food insecurity.
