ZANZIBAR, July 10 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — MINISTER for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, January Makamba, affirmed Tanzania’s unwavering commitment to ensuring the East African Community (EAC) remains strong, united and successful.
Makamba made the statement while leading a three-day retreat of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers responsible for East African Affairs that opened in Zanzibar last Saturday.
He said that the meeting aims to reinforce the EAC family, enabling it to perform its functions effectively.
He underscored Tanzania’s dedication, as a founding member, to fostering unity and strength within the community and ensuring the successful achievement of its plans, projects, and goals.
He noted that all participants know that the EAC Ministerial Retreat is a directive from the Heads of State and expressed Tanzania’s hope that the ministers will engage in honest and transparent discussions aimed at fortifying the community.
“Unity is our strength. We have witnessed the past consequences of the community’s disintegration, and we must avoid repeating those mistakes,” stated Makamba.
On her said EAC Secretary General Veronica Nduva said as the regional bloc continue to navigate in challenges and opportunities, the outcomes of the Ministerial Retreat would guide future initiatives aimed at fostering sustainable development, shared prosperity and stability across the region.
“Let us be free to discuss on how to enhance peace and security, while deepening integration efforts within the EAC,” Nduva said in her remarks at the opening of retreat.
She said that the recommendations are required by the EAC Heads of State and that the ‘wananchi’ of the region should expect good outcomes from the well-attended retreat.
In his remarks, Kenya’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, commended Tanzania for hosting the meeting and stressed the importance of EAC leaders seizing opportunities for the benefit of the community’s citizens.
Similarly, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Affairs of Uganda, Rebecca Kadaga, expressed gratitude to the government of Tanzania for hosting the meeting and praised the leadership’s efforts to strengthen the community.
The Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, Dend Alor Kuol, also highlighted the meeting’s significance, particularly its focus on peace, security, and community integration, recognising it as a crucial step towards advancing the EAC.
Ambassador Albert Shingiro- Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation of the Republic of Burundi had this to say in his opening remark “We have made progress in EAC integration, but still have serious gaps that include lack of trust among us, insecurity and lack of jobs for our increasing young people. We must find workable means to address these challenges.”
The retreat discussed the report from the Chair of the Heads of State of the community, the state of peace, security and relations among member states and evaluated the integration process and issues hindering the goals of its programmes and projects.
This meeting was organised in collaboration between the government of Tanzania and the Secretariat of the East African Community, following the directives from the EAC Heads of State summit held virtually on May 7th, this year.
Ministers from the eight EAC member states—Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and the host Tanzania— are in attendance, along with permanent secretaries from these ministries and members of the EAC Secretariat. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
