The Secretary General of the East African Community Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera held talks today with a Delegation from India, who called on him at his office in Arusha, Tanzania. The Indian Delegation was led by H.E. Mr. Debnath Shaw, High Commissioner of India in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The High Commissioner was accompanied by Mr. Sujay Kumar, Under Secretary, (Eastern and South African Division), Ministry of External Affairs; Mr. Sudhir K. Kharb, Under Secretary (DPA-I), Ministry of External Affairs; Mr. Nadeem Panjetan, Chief General Manager, Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of India, Mumbai; and Ms. Deepa Sehgal, Second Secretary, High Commission of India, Dar es Salaam.
Amb. Sezibera was accompanied by Hon. Wilbert T. Kaahwa, the Counsel to the Community; Ms Juliana Sweke, Country Head, East African Development Bank (EADB)-Tanzania; and other senior officials from EADB and EAC Secretariat.
The talks between the Secretary General and the Indian Delegation centered mainly on four major issues namely the need to review the current Memorandum of understanding between EAC and the Government of India; concretizing and taking forward a proposal to set up 4 Institutions in the various Partner States with the support of the Indian government; India’s support to critical regional infrastructure projects especially in energy and railways sectors; and enhancing coordination between East African Business Council and the Confederation of Indian Industries.
The current MoU between the EAC and the Government of India is so broad and the two parties have agreed to review it to focus on a few areas mainly in Infrastructure, Agriculture and Agro-processing, Skills Development and Capacity Building.
The Government of India has offered to set up 4 Institutions in the EAC as per the decision taken at the 2nd Summit of the Government of India-Africa Forum held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May 2011. The Institutions, to be hosted by the various Partner States, include:- Farm Science Centre, Material Testing Laboratory, Agricultural Seed Production-cum-Demonstration Centre, and Soil, Water and Tissue Testing Laboratory.
In another development, the Secretary General held talks with officials from the East African Business Council led by its Chairman, Mr. Felix Mosha.
Amb. Sezibera and his Guests discussed strategies to strengthen the role of the Business Council in championing the business environment in the Community. They also discussed the forthcoming 2nd SG’s CEO Forum taking place on 24thOctober at the Serena Hotel, Kigali in Rwanda.
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