Private sector bodies in East African Community (EAC) have recommended that partner states come up with a common Post COVID-19 recovery strategy for the region with a focus on intra-EAC trade and investments. This one of the 15 resolutions made by CEOs of Private Sector Federations from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan in an online meeting held under the auspices of the East African Business Council on March 26. According to a statement, the recommendations follow different reports of businesses affected by the continued spread of COVID-19 in EAC. It was also recommended that Private Sector Associations should collaborate and share information on the short term and long-term impact of COVID-19 to inform the business recovery strategy. We recommend that the EAC Council of Ministers come up with harmonized fiscal incentives for businesses in the region due to the impact of Covid-19, the CEOs recommended. They also recommended that EAC partner States allocate more funding towards the recruitment of health personnel to support combating the Covid-19 scourge. States have also been urged to fast track and enhance EAC framework for e-commerce to ensure ease and access to essential goods within the region. The EAC Partner States have to replicate and learn best practices from each other towards compacting the pandemic, the statement reads. We recommend The EAC region to ensure the borders remain fully operational and facilitate the free movement of goods and services across the EAC Partner States and The EAC Council of Ministers to hold meeting more frequently for information sharing and collaboration, said the statement signed by all CEOs of the federations. The EAC Partner States have to regulate recurrent expenditures and focus on increasing budgetary allocation on health, social services and food security, they said. The private sector urged the EAC to come up with practical measures to enhance regional value chains to reduce over-reliance on imports to ensure food security, promote agro-processing and urban farming to cater for food provision in EAC urban setups. We urge development partners to support the EAC and private sector initiatives of combating the Covid-19 outbreak in the region and also initiate donor round tables to support priority areas, adds the statement. Recently, Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation said that they were monitoring the damage done to the local businesses as the country instituted measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, which will inform their advocacy going forward. Several businesses have been affected by a countrywide lockdown that went into force a week ago, closing all activities for two weeks starting on March 23, leaving only those offering essential services.
