20th EAC Summit to be held as scheduled, Museveni confirms

Arusha. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who doubles as the current chairman of the East African Community (EAC) has insisted that the forthcoming 20th Ordinary EAC Summit will be held on Friday, November 30 as scheduled before.

This comes after reports suggesting that Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza had written to the chairman asking for rescheduling of the meeting date.

However, President Nkurunziza’s letter to the chairman did not clearly indicate the reasons for his request.

The Burundian President has not attended the EAC summit since 2015, the year that he narrowly escaped a coup attempt being overthrown while attending a similar meeting in Dar es Salaam.

For his part, the chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers, Dr Ally Kivejinja, has instructed EAC’s secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko to continue with preparations amid the meeting of Heads of States scheduled to be held at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) in Arusha, Tanzania.

“It is true that the chairman received the letter from Burundian President who requested for extension of the meeting, but the chairman has insisted that the Summit should be held as scheduled,” Dr Kivejinja said through his letter issued to the secretary general.

"As we all know that the EAC council of ministers meeting is underway in Arusha, commencing on November 21 and will run through November 28,” he said.

Among the items on the Provisional Agenda of the 20th Summit of the EAC Heads of State are: the status of ratification of various protocols; the status of resolution of long outstanding non-tariff barriers, and; the progress report on the adoption of Political Confederation as a Transitional Model to the East African Political Federation.

The Summit will also consider reports on modalities for the promotion of Motor Vehicle Assembly in East Africa aimed at reducing importation of used vehicles into the Community, and; the review of the textile and leather sector with a view to developing a strong and competitive domestic sector that gives consumers better choice than imported textile and footwear.

At their 19th Ordinary Meeting held in Kampala, Uganda on 23rd February, 2018, the Summit directed the EAC Council of Ministers to explore the possibilities of developing the automotive industry in East Africa by reducing the importation of used vehicles from outside the region and thereby make the region more competitive.

The forthcoming Summit will also review progress report by the Council of Ministers on the Summit Directive on having two (2) Deputy Secretaries General at the Community recruited competitively on a rotational basis among the Partner States.