The Joint East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development has kicked off at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Ministers, academicians, manufacturers and businessmen are converging at the Lakeside resort and will be followed a day later by the 19th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State, which will also be held in Kampala.
EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko said in a statement that the joint Heads of State retreat is themed “Deepening and widening regional integration through Infrastructure and Health Sector Development in the EAC Partner States’’
He said the joint retreat is expected to harness political support for regional flagship projects, funding commitments, and public-private partnership arrangements.
Mfumukeko said that the EAC had identified infrastructure development and health as sectors in which it would have to invest massive resources to spur economic growth and prosperity in East Africa.
All the EAC heads of state will attend the joint retreat tomorrow 22nd February ahead of their 19th Ordinary Summit to be held on Friday.
In 2015, the EAC Heads of State adopted a three-year gradual process to phase out the importation of second-hand clothes and footwear to promote the textile, apparel and leather industries in the region.
US is currently reviewing Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania’s eligibility to AGOA after the three EAC states remained firm on their pronouncement to phase out second-hand clothing to facilitate the growth of domestic factories even as the US asked the block to remove the limit on used clothing from the West.
