East African Community Secretariat; Nairobi, Kenya; 12 April 2017:
The Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko paid a courtesy call on the Trademark East Africa (TMA) CEO, Mr. Frank Matsaert on Tuesday, 11th April, 2017, at the Trade Mark East Africa Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
The two officials had a lengthy discussion on a number of issues including the support to the East African Community by TMA and the importance of Partnership between the two parties.
The Secretary General briefed Mr. Frank Matsaert on the reforms being undertaken at the EAC and that EAC was now ISO certified. He disclosed to the TMA CEO that the impact of reforms had led to cost reduction in the way EAC does business and emphasized that the reform agenda will continue to ensure efficiency in the use of available resources.
On management of different projects at the EAC Secretariat, Amb. Mfumukeko informed Mr. Matsaert that the Projects Coordination Unit will be fully functional by July 2017. On his part, Mr. Frank Matsaert emphasized that TMA takes EAC partnership seriously, and congratulated the EAC for passing the EU Fiduciary Risk Assessment, which TMA supported.
Mr. Matsaert informed the Secretary General that a commitment had been made to support the initial phase of operationalization of the Projects Coordination Unit at the EAC Secretariat. ‘Already a consultant had been recruited by TMA to help in the finalization of the design of the unit’. The report will be finalized by end of April 2017, added the CEO.
Mr. Matsaert also expressed his happiness on the video conferencing facility installed at the EAC Secretariat and in the Partner States supported by TMA that is working and contributing to the reduction of costs.
He made a request to the Secretary General for computation of the savings by the video conferencing facility since it started operating. ‘There is need to double up the video conferencing facility to allow two or three meetings at the same time.’
The Secretary General and the Trade Mark CEO agreed to work more closely with other Development Partners to avoid any potential duplication of programs. They also noted the need for a joint meeting especially between EAC, TMA and European Union (EU) to identify areas of joint implementation.
The two officials also agreed to review the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between EAC and TMA. They identified level of engagement especially at Projects Coordination Committee as one area that needed to be revisited.
Mr. Matsaert told the Secretary General that TMA is planning to send a high level mission to visit EAC for deeper discussions.
Source: East African Community

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