Arusha (Tanzania), Aug 17 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — THE East African Community (EAC) is planning to host the Africa and China-US Business Summit in 2024.
This was discussed in a meeting between the EAC Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki and the President of the American Chinese CEO Society, Robert Sun.
Dr Mathuki hosted Sun in Arusha on Tuesday 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.
The SG highlighted the EAC’s strategic geographical location and its expansive market as major investment attractions.
Dr Mathuki reaffirmed the EAC’s commitment to providing a conducive environment for businesses to operate, adding that the EAC has put in place sufficient legal frameworks that have created a conducive legal environment for investors.
“EAC has a big market with a population of 283.7 million people, a GDP of 305.3 billion US dollars and low cost of doing business. This presents immense opportunities for business and the region is ready for investment,” said Dr Mathuki.
“EAC also has immense natural resources. For example, DRC (the Democratic Republic of Congo) alone has a total land area of 2.3 million square kilometres, with 24 trillion US dollars’ worth of minerals that are yet to be exploited,” added Dr Mathuki.
Dr Mathuki presented to the delegation bankable projects ready for investment across all the EAC Partner States.
On his part, Sun expressed his interest in bringing investors to EAC and said that he was impressed by the region’s economic potential.
“A united East Africa, free from trade barriers, will mean business. We are ready to do education and promotion to investors from both China and US and share the opportunity presented by the EAC market. We are looking at investing our resources in hospitality, agriculture, health, real estate, insurance and many more sectors,” said Sun, adding that US President Joe Biden had made a commitment to invest 50 billion US dollars into Africa during his four-year term in office.
The meeting was a positive step towards promoting investment in the EAC. It is expected to lead to increased trade and economic cooperation between EAC, China and the United States.
Present at the event were the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sector, Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, the CEO of the American Chinese CEOs Society, Jerry Shang and the Acting Director Customs and Trade, Flavia Busingye. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
