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The 27th Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers Responsible for EAC Affairs and Planning (SCMEACP) is currently underway in Arusha, Tanzania.Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community, arrived in Arusha Thursday morning for the meeting.
The five-day meeting started with the Session of Senior Officials which was scheduled for October 30th and 31st, 2017 followed by the Coordination Committee comprising Permanent/Principal Secretaries from 1st November to 2nd November, 2017. The meeting will be capped by the Ministerial Session which will take place on Friday, 3rd November, 2017.
The Session of Senior Officials is being chaired by Dr. Andrew Musiime, Director of EAC Affairs at the Ministry of EAC Affairs in the Republic of Uganda. Uganda is the current Chair of the Community.
A statement from the EAC Headquarters, in Arusha, indicates that among the items on the agenda of the meeting are: the consideration of the report on the implementation of previous decisions of the Sectoral Council of ministers responsible for EAC affairs and planning (SCMEACP); and the consideration of progress report on the status of implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol.
The Protocol on the Establishment of the EAC Common Market entered into force on July 1, 2010, after ratification by all the then five Partner States: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
It provides for four freedoms – free movement of goods; labor; services; and capital – which are expected to significantly boost trade and investments and make the region more productive and prosperous.
