Head of the German delegation Mr. Georg Rademacher and the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge Finance and Administration, Mr. Liberat Mfumukeko signs the bilateral agreement.
The EAC team(on the right side) led by Deputy Secretary General in charge Finance and Administration, Mr Mr. Liberat Mfumukeko and the The Federal Republic of Germany team during the negotiations.
EAST African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 1 October, 2015: The Federal Republic of Germany and the East African Community (EAC) have successfully concluded bilateral negotiations on development cooperation at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha,Tanzania.
The Federal Republic of Germany committed a total of 37 million euros in grants to the EAC for 2016-2018, highlightingthe strong commitment to support the integration process in East Africa.
· 10
million euro in financial assistance will be invested in the
establishment of a regional network of reference laboratories for
communicable diseases. With this project, the German Government responds
to a request for support from the EAC for the prevention and control of
epidemic outbreaks in the region.
· Another
10 million euro in financial assistance will be used for Integrated
Water Resource Management of Lake Victoria aiming at improving water
provision and management of water resources.
· 17 million euros in
technical assistance were committed to further support of the economic
integration process, including a contribution to the EAC partnership
fund. The programme is focussing on institutional strengthening of the
EAC Secretariat and on supporting the implementation of the Customs
Union, Common Market Protocols and Monetary Union. This includes the
elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers such as tax harmonisation as well as
Mutual Recognition Agreements for qualifications. At the same time
Germany will support the EAC in promoting private investment especially
in the pharmaceutical sector, including the establishment of a regional
quality infrastructure for the pharmaceutical sector.
Speaking
during the negotiations, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of
Finance and Administration, Mr. Liberat Mfumukeko, thanked the
Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for its support to the EAC
spanning the years since the re-establishment of the Cooperation
between the three founding EAC Partner States to the present, when the
Community has expanded to include the republics of Rwanda and Burundi.
‘’We have truly benefited from the German
support which has catalyzed other development Partners to support our
projects and programmes. In addition, Germany has given the EAC a
permanent home by financing the construction of the new Headquarters
that today houses the Secretariat ,the Court and the Assembly under one
roof thus greatly easing the EAC Organs interactions and
communication’’, said Mr. Mfumukeko.
He
highlighted the successes achieved through German support in the
realisation of the fully fledged Customs Union, the Common Market, and
the commitments to support the realisation of the Monetary Union in the
succeeding programme.
The
EAC Deputy Secretary General noted that the development of the East
African Monitoring System within the current support had resulted in a
robust means of follow up of the implementation of Council and Summit
directives. He further enumerated the priorities of the EAC- German
cooperation for the next years.
Mr.
Georg Rademacher, Head of the German delegation, said: “Our support
underlines the importance we give to the East African Community. The EAC
is a role model and pace-setter in Africa and we are proud working
closely with you in order to contribute to the well-being and prosperity
of the citizens of this region”.
He
underlined that Germany is also supporting substantial regional
infrastructure projects with promotional loans of the German development
bank KfW.
Only
last week Ambassador Kochanke and Secretary General Sezibera signed a
financial agreement to commit 30 million euros for live-saving vaccines
in the EAC and the establishment of the EAC Regional Centre of
Excellence for Health Supply Chain Management in Kigali.
With
a view to strengthen the pandemic preparedness in the EAC, Germany had
announced its willingness to provide an additional 3 million euros in
technical assistance for the region`s crisis response capacity (out of special funds for 2016).
Since
cooperation began in 1998 the total volume of German support to the EAC
amounts to almost 213 million euro. Germany also has substantial
bilateral cooperation with all five EAC member states.
For further information, please contact:
· Owora Richard Othieno, Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs;
Tel: +255 784 835021; Email: oothieno@eachq.org
· John Merikion, German Embassy, Communication Officer, Tel: +255 22 211709;
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