Closer integration tops agenda for EAC fourm in Nairobi

July 24, 2018 in Policy by Editor

July 24, 2018—The 6^th Annual East African Community (EAC) Secretary General’s Forum is currently taking place in Nairobi under the theme ‘Strategizing for impact: People-Centred and Market-Driven Integration’.

Dr. Libérat Mfumukeko, the current SG will have a chance to listen to a  broad range of views concerning the future direction of the EAC which in recent years has faced some major challenges especially non-tariff barriers and the free movement of people across borders as well as insecurity in the region.

An estimated 100 delegates are attending the event that started yesterday at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Participants are representative of Partner States’ Private Sector Organizations (PSOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), professional bodies, Academia/Universities, Media, EAC Organs and Institutions, Development Partners and Other Interest Groups.

The Forum aims to provide a platform for regular dialogue between the EAC Secretary General and the Private Sector, Civil Society and other interest groups on how to improve the EAC integration process. The annual Forum is convened by the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with the Regional Dialogue Committee (RDC) which is comprised of membership drawn from Partners States which include the Private Sector, Civil Society, Representatives of Government and regional Private Sector, Civil Society, Trade Union, Employer and Professional Associations/Bodies.

The 6^th Annual SG’s Forum will review the work plan and progress Reports on the Consultative Dialogue Framework (CDF) for Private Sector, Civil Society and other interest groups, which was adopted by the 26^th Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers; consider translating SG’s Forum Resolutions to Policy; define success stories of the Dialogue Process; and consider Sustainability of the Consultative Dialogue Framework by redefining the roles of the Dialogue Parties.

Since the adoption of the CDF, five Annual EAC Secretary General’s Forums have been held. The first Forum took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in December, 2012, with the theme: “Review of Implementation of The EAC Common Market”; The Second was in Nairobi, Kenya in October, 2013 and themed “The EAC We Want”; The third was held in Entebbe September, 2014 under the theme “EAC: My Home, My Business”; The Fourth Forum was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in March 2016, under the theme “Good Governance and Constitutionalism in the East African Community”; and the fifth forum was held in June 2017 in Bujumbura, Burundi, under the theme: “15 Years of The EAC: Towards a Borderless Community”.