President Paul Kagame is in Arusha, Tanzania for the 20th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State.
The meeting is themed around Enhancing Economic, Social and Political Integration of the East African Community.
The daylong meeting is scheduled to bring together Presidents from all six member states of the EAC to discuss the community’s progress in key sectors including integration
The summit was preceded by a meeting of EAC Council of Ministers which among other things presented a progress update to heads of state converging.
During the meeting, there is set to be a change of bureau heading the body.
President Kagame is expected to take over Chairmanship of the organisation from Uganda while Kenya will automatically assume the rapporteurship role for all EAC Policy Meetings.
The summit will also discuss the status of ratification of various protocols; resolution of longstanding non-tariff barriers and the progress report on the adoption of a political confederation as a transitional model to the envisaged East African political federation.
During the meeting, there will also be a review of a progress report by the Council of Ministers on the directive by the Summit to have two deputy secretaries-general of EAC recruited competitively on a rotational basis among the Partner States.
The summit was initially set for December 1st but was postponed due to the absence of Burundi.
The EAC is made up of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
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