2nd EAC Secretary General’s Forum for private sector, Civil Society & other interest groups Kicks-off in Nairobi.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Hon.Phyllis Kandie has underscored the importance of holding regular dialogue with private sector ,civil society and other interest groups  in order to get their views and expectations on the various stages of  regional integration.

Successful integration, Hon. Kandie said, presumes solid support by the citizens of the participating partner states.  “Such support is based on the availability of full and complete information on all areas of integration. Lack of such information  often undermines the good policy intentions,” she said 7th October, 2013 when opening the 2nd EAC Secretary General’s Consultative Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Hon.Kandie noted that the EAC is now recognized as one of the fastest growing economies in the world due to the strong intra-EAC trade, adding that the bloc was now working on developing legal binding mechanisms.

In his key note remarks, the EAC Secretary General Amb Richard Sezibera challenged the civil society and private sector to strengthen cross-border alliances and networks with like-minded organizations in order to fulfill the collective mission of building a unified and prosperous East Africa.

“Our collective sense of mission should be to work towards a fully integrated East Africa with all East Africans living in harmony with each other, an East Africa whose overriding agenda is the improvement of the living conditions of its people, ”Amb. Sezibera told about 150 attentive delegates.

He also noted that there were challenges in building a united East Africa but were being managed through continued political will and the public/private sector support in the region.

The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Jesca Eriyo, commended the efforts made by the private sector, civil society and other interest  groups to push the integration agenda.

She added that successful regional integration would require solid support by the citizens of the participating states. The EAC-SG’s Consultative Dialogue Framework(EAC-SGCDF) provides platform for regular dialogue between the EAC Secretary General and the private sector ,civil society and other interest groups on how to improve the EAC integration process for the faster development of the region and mutual benefit of the EAC citizens.

The forum aims at increasing the participation of the private sector, civil society and other interest groups in EAC policy formulation and decision-making processes. As a result of such forums, it is expected that citizens of the Community will achieve a higher level of awareness on matters of regional integration and increasingly take ownership of the process.

The theme for the meeting is: “The EAC We Want.”

The forum is attended by about 150 representatives of the governments of EAC partner states, private sector, civil society, academia, members of the East African Legislative Assembly, judges of the East African Court of Justice, members of national parliaments, media and the EAC Secretariat, among others.