East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10th June, 2021: EAC Partner States have been called upon to exploit the huge potential for export of raw cotton to the world market. Kenya's Principal Secretary for EAC, Dr. Kevit Desai, said that the region produces 100,000 metric tonnes of cotton compared to an existing export potential of 400,000 metric tonnes. Dr. Desai said that EAC exports to the world market currently stands at 8% adding that to increase the volume of exports, value chains such as textiles need to be promoted to boost exports. 'We need to harness science, technology and innovation to boost exports by investing in greater capacity to produce leather and textiles, and turn a crop like pyrethrum into aerosols,' said the PS. Dr. Desai said that increased investment in the leather and textile sectors would cater for the growing demand in the region for locally manufactured high quality clothes and leather products. Dr. Desai, who is also the Chairperson of the Coordination Committee that brings together Permanent/Principal/Under Secretaries for EAC Affairs in the Partner States, was addressing the media at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha. The PS is in Arusha to attend the 31st Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers of EAC Affairs and Planning. The PS disclosed that intra-EAC trade currently stands at 15%, which he described as being very low compared to other regional economic communities like the EU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). 'It is encouraging that a confederation for the agricultural sector has already...

Ministers of Health in the East African Community (EAC) will discuss technology solutions in healthcare delivery virtually. The two-day regional E-Health and Telemedicine workshop, Ministerial Session and Virtual Exhibition was initially scheduled to take place in a Hybrid format in Kampala on 16-17 June 2021, with both physical and virtual participation. It is organised by the East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO). Commenting on the shift to a fully virtual from the Hybrid meeting planned, Mr Fortunate Muyambi, EASTECO’s Executive Secretary, said: “The National Organising Committee (NOC) in Uganda has been working extremely hard to deliver this event, and we are pleased that technology will allow us to proceed with the deliberations.” The NOC has representatives from Ugandan ministries and institutions including, the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U); Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Health, Private Sector Foundation, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and the National Council for Higher Education. The now fully virtual conference will bring together academicians, researchers, technologists, developers and government decision makers to present and discuss existing and new digital technologies for enhancing healthcare in East Africa. The event will provide an opportunity to share national, regional and global experience in E-health and telemedicine programmes and solutions as well as biomedical engineering. It will provide participants with insights into policy and regulatory systems, infrastructure and technologies, and efficient partnerships to improve healthcare delivery. The Conference will be graced with opening remarks from Health ministers from 6 EAC Partner States, Secretary-General of...

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – The East African Community (EAC) bloc has appealed to the EU to lift sanctions on Burundi because the country is ready to move forward. In a statement late Wednesday, EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki said the sanctions were hurting Burundians as well as the people of the entire East African region. “I am appealing to the EU that we work together and open a new page for the betterment of the people of the Republic of Burundi,” Mathuki said during talks with an EU delegation to Tanzania, aimed to enhance the EU’s support to the integration process in East Africa. The EAC bloc brings together Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. The EU imposed sanctions on Burundi in 2015 at the height of the political crisis in the country following late President Pierre Nkurunziza's extension of tenure, which triggered protests. The EAC secretary general shared different areas of integration priorities, seeking support from the EU programing 2021-2027. These include increasing space for the private sector in the EAC integration, enhancing regional governance institutional capabilities in peace-building taking into account the inclusive, accountable and democratic governance of the region, as well as strengthening regional coordination, preparedness and response to epidemics, including COVID-19, and public health emergencies. Manfredo Fanti, the head of the EU delegation to Tanzania, assured of the union's commitment to work closely with the East African bloc. Read original article

Thrust five years into the future by Covid-19, as management firm McKinsey puts it, most of what we expected to see in 2030 will soon be upon us. A disruption in the workplace in 2020 changed the fortunes of millions, either throwing them out of their jobs or elevating their profiles. Most of those who had an upturn in fortunes were in technology and automation. The World Economic Forum (WEF) late last year released a list of jobs that, it said, will be marketable in the future - which we might already be in - and those that will be obsolete because of automation. It is not surprising from the data that technology will be taking over a significant number of jobs. It was certain the world was always inching closer to this by the day. The world is welcoming artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics on an unprecedented scale and the Internet of Things (IoT) is now common talk. The need to cut overheads and reduce office population amid the pandemic prompted industry leaders to find ways of using automated systems to deliver, with many people losing their jobs. “The past two years have seen a clear acceleration in the adoption of new technologies among the companies surveyed,” said WEF. “Cloud computing, big data and e-commerce remain high priorities, following a trend established in previous years.” Job loss Sectors such as the arts, entertainment and recreation, hospitality, retail, mining, real estate, rental and leasing saw many employees lose their jobs....

East African Community member states will explore the potential of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for their shared payment system to end reluctance by member countries to trade in each other’s currency. The bloc’s secretariat said advances in technology and innovation have created a potential for new forms of cross-border payments even as it moved to upgrade the struggling East African Payment System (EAPS), which was launched in May 2014. “Review recent advances in technology and innovations that have created the potential for new payment infrastructures and arrangements that could be applied to cross-border payments,” the secretariat said in a consultancy call for a feasibility study on the planned upgrade of the EAPS. “The consultant will, therefore, conduct an exploratory scoping review of such developments, as well as emerging technologies and their adoption, including but not limited to technologies involving the use of Central Bank Digital Currencies,” it added. Single currency The adaption of a CBDC could provide an option for the EAC partner states, which target to attain a single currency for the region by 2024 in line with the bloc’s Monetary Union Protocol. A CBDC uses an electronic record or digital token to represent the virtual form of a fiat currency of a particular nation or region. These digital currencies are centralised and are issued and regulated by the competent monetary authority of the country. The CBDC acts as a digital representation of a country’s fiat currency and would be backed by a suitable amount of monetary...

Traders within the East African Community (EAC) will soon be able to report cross–border challenges live and get prompt feedback on the same. This is thanks to an initiative by the newly appointed EAC Secretary General Dr. Peter Mathuki that seeks to resolve persistent Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) at regional border points. Dr. Mathuki has hit the ground running and having come from being at the helm of the East African Business Council (EABC), a regional business arm of the EAC, he understands the struggles that the common trader faces while doing business within the bloc. This makes him an ideal leader as he makes decisions based on the experiences he has been encountering when he was on the other side of the table. Dr. Mathuki has now vowed to improve trade in the region which currently stands at 15 per cent by removing some of the challenges threatening the stability of regional trade. According to him, some of the persistent NTBs include restricted market access for goods and un-harmonized charges that continue to frustrate intra-EAC trade. He says that investment by increasing transaction costs and curtailing movement of goods are contributing to the low intra-EAC trade. “EAC intra-regional trade is under 20 per cent, and it is my mission to ensure that this grows to at least 50 per cent in the next five years,” he said. One of his agendas is to have a database of these challenges as they emerge so his office can investigate the causes and...

The East African Community Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) has urged the EAC Regional Coordination Committee to review and harmonise the Covid-19 testing charges, in addition to the validity and mutual recognition of the certificates with a view to ensuring the safe and smooth movement of goods and persons in the region. The SCTIFI noted with concern the non-recognition of Covid-19 certificates by Partner States, the unharmonised charges for Covid-19 testing and the validity of Covid-19 certificates amongst Partner States. The SCTIFI further observed that notification procedures were not being followed, a situation that essentially constitutes yet another Non-Tariff Barrier (NTB) to trade within the region. The Sectoral Council, which met under the chairmanship of Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, Ms. Betty Maina also directed the Republics of South Sudan and Uganda to operationalise the Nimule/Elegu One Stop Border Post (OSBP) by deploying all relevant officials to the OSBP. The Sectoral Council had been informed that the Nimule OSBP was completed and handed over to South Sudan and was pending full operationalisation by having all relevant officials from border agencies including from Uganda operating from the OSBP. The SCTIFI further directed Partner States to use regional mechanisms or structures such as the EAC Standards Committee and SCTIFI itself to resolve disputes among themselves as opposed to taking unilateral interventions. The Sectoral Council directed Partner States to comply with the transparency principles of WTO TBT/SPS Agreements, the EAC Customs Union Protocol and EAC...

The visit by Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye may have added another brick to the reconstruction of the East African Community, which has looked feeble in the past as leaders targeted divergent interests. Mr Ndayishimiye attended the first Summit of heads of state in February, when the leaders agreed to elect Kenya’s Peter Mathuki as the new secretary-general. Incidentally, the EAC had looked weaker when held by Burundian Liberat Mfumukeko. In Kisumu, where President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted him for two days, they agreed to strengthen relations through “shared values and principles … and a united East African Community”. A communique issued from State Lodge in Kisumu showed the two countries had focused mainly on bilateral agreements, signing seven MoUs for political consultation, diplomatic training, agriculture and livestock development, sports cooperation, cooperative development, public service and tourism. EAC framework But they said most of them will be implemented within the East African Community framework. “The leaders exchanged views on various development matters in the East African Community (EAC) and reaffirmed their commitment to continue working together in championing the EAC integration agenda and 6th EAC Development Strategy and initiatives under the auspices of Comesa and the ICGLR,” they said, also referring to the regional common markets trading bloc and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a peace initiative to restore stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries. Mr Albert Shingiro, Burundi’s Foreign and Development Cooperation minister signed all the deal with Kenyan line ministers, which he...

DAR ES SALAAM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The expansion of the six-member East African Community (EAC) is in progress, the EAC's Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, said on Friday. Mathuki said the expansion of the bloc was in progress with steps to process the Democratic Republic of Congo for admission now at an advanced stage, according to a statement issued by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania's Arusha. Mathuki said the EAC was keen on moving to the next level by strengthening trade and cooperation with other nations and regional economic communities. He said the EAC was seeking strategic partners for trade and investment as it expands the regional market. EAC member states currently include Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Enditem Read original article

Reliable and affordable energy sources of energy are key to the attainment of all the four stages of the EAC integration, namely the Customs Union, Common Market, Monetary Union and Political Federation. EAC Secretary General Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki said that energy was a driver and enabler of all sectors of the economy, adding that the harmonisation of Partner States’ national policies governing energy was therefore critical. Dr. Mathuki said that harmonising energy policies in the region and making energy affordable was crucial to improving the business environment in East Africa and increasing its attractiveness as an investment and trade hub. “The first thing an investor seeking to set up in a country usually asks is the cost of energy. We need to reduce the costs of energy in the region to facilitate investment,” said Dr. Mathuki. Dr. Mathuki was speaking at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania when he received the Executive Secretary of the Energy Regulator Association of East Africa (EREA), Dr. Geoffrey Mabea, who paid him a courtesy call in his office. Dr. Mathuki said that EAC was keen to partner with EREA as part of efforts to inform policy and decision making on energy matters at both the national and regional levels. The Secretary General urged EREA to put in place a structured engagement framework for the harmonisation of energy policies in the region. He advised the association to seek observer status at the EAC especially on matters to do with trade, infrastructure, energy and investment....