The outgoing secretary general of the East African Community, Dr Richard Sezibera, has expressed his appreciation for the support he has received from development partners, noting that the EAC Partnership Fund was more than a monetary support.

He was speaking in Dar es Salaam mid this week at the fourth High-Level Dialogue of the EAC Partnership Fund. The dialogue was co-chaired by the Norwegian Ambassador, Hanne Kaarstad, and the EAC secretary general and attended by heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the EAC as well as members the EAC Partnership Fund.

“The Partnership Fund is a forum for dialogue and creates avenues for discussing key integration issues and mobilising political support for EAC regional integration,” added Dr Sezibera, who also noted the positive growth of the fund since 2011. He called on development partners to honour their pledges through actualising pending disbursements which currently stand at 24 per cent for the financial year 2015/16.

The outgoing EAC chief underscored the importance of the basket fund to the EAC, noting the significant support the Partnership Fund had given to the bloc, including financial support to the implementation of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols; Private Sector development; finalization of the One-Stop Border Post regulations; negotiations and finalization of the EAC Monetary Union Protocol; institutional strengthening including the EAC Institutional Review; enhancing public awareness of the EAC; and development of EAC Vision 2050 among many other projects that have been completed or were currently ongoing.

The secretary general further disclosed to the heads of the diplomatic missions that the use of video-conferencing facilities at EAC had significantly reduced the need for physical meetings by one third, resulting in huge cost cutting.

He also called upon Trademark East Africa to join the Partnership Fund in order to better synchronise prioritization of EAC integration projects. Dr Sezibera urged development partners to provide technical and financial support to young South Sudan which joined the EAC recently.

In her welcome remarks, Amb Kaarstad who was speaking on behalf of development partners thanked the outgoing EAC secretary general for the constructive cooperation and tireless promotion of EAC work as established in the Treaty and protocols.

“The large turnout this afternoon is a testament to a strong and continued interest in the EAC’s role and in the regional integration processes,”said Amb Kaarstad.

Amb Kaarstad further emphasised: “The accomplishments of the secretary general span all pillars of the EAC integration. The benefits of easier movement of people, goods, services and capital are the results. The EAC has under Dr Sezibera progressed in eliminating Non-Tariff Barriers, harmonizing common and external tariffs as well as standards and quality.”

She noted that although the development partners accounted for 43 per cent of final budget at the EAC, a small portion of this went through the partnership fund.

Source: IPP Media

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