President Paul Kagame on Thursday morning arrived in the Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where he joined other regional leaders for the Heads of State summit of the East African Community (EAC).

Kagame’s arrival in Tanzania was announced on the official Twitter handle of the Office of President.

According to a statement from the bloc’s secretariat, the summit will mainly focus on the ongoing stalemate in the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between EAC countries and member states to the European Union (EU).

The EPAs are trade and development agreements negotiated between the EU, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partners engaged in regional economic integration processes, with an aim of facilitating market penetration between these blocs.

Currently, only Rwanda and Kenya have signed the EPAs while Uganda is also expected to sign soon.

The stalemate however remains with Tanzania, which according to reports has expressed reservations saying that allowing the flow of products from European firms would hurt regional manufacturing sector.

Burundi has also not signed.

 Bazivamo swearing

Other issues on agenda for the summit include the swearing in of Christophe Bazivamo as the EAC deputy secretary general in charge of administration and finance.

Bazivamo, who is a former member of the East African Legislative Assembly, was in June endorsed as deputy secretary general after he was seconded by Rwanda.