The German government has over the past two years extended 67 million Euros to the East African Community (EAC) region for three years from 2015, channeled to finance various initiatives within the health and pharmaceutical sectors as well as LVFO projects among others.
The revelation was made by Hon. Christophe Bazivamo, the EAC Deputy Secretary General (DSG) in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, while receiving the German Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC, Egon Kochanke, who had paid a courtesy call at the EAC Secretariat.
The envoy congratulated Mr. Bazivamo on his recent appointment as DSG at the Heads of State Summit held in Dar-es-Salaam on 8th September, 2016, and the two later discussed, among other things, how to strengthen the EAC-German cooperation for purposes of accelerating the integration process.
He expressed his country’s willingness to support the integration agenda by contributing to the Partnership Fund, which he described as a good instrument that enables EAC to directly access funds to facilitate myriad activities and programmes within the region.
Commenting on the progress of the dialogue process for Burundi Peace Talks, the German Ambassador hailed the Facilitator of the Inter-Burundi Dialogue, former Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa for being able to mobilize a large number of representatives to attend the dialogues.
On his part Hon. Bazivamo briefed his guest on the status of EAC-EU-EPA; peace and security restoration and mediation dialogues in Burundi; as well as the status and procedure of integrating the Republic of South Sudan into the EAC.
He noted that the Community was working to achieve the most important milestones within the Customs Union (Single Customs Territory) and the Common Market protocol, which milestones he added, would enable the benefits of integration to trickle down to the people of East Africa. He noted that the trickle down effects would enable the people to appreciate and embrace the integration process.
“This is the only way they will be fully aware of the integration process,” Mr Bazivamo said.
Amb. Kochanke was accompanied by Ms. Lena Thiede, Counsellor/Head of EAC Regional Head of Cooperation at the German Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam, and Mr. Bernd Multhaup, GIZ Programme Manager at the EAC Secretariat.
