GERMANY CONTRIBUTES 24 MILLION EURO TO EAC SUPPORT MEDIA RELATIONS AND WATER SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

PRESS RELEASE

GERMANY CONTRIBUTES 24 MILLION EUROS TO EAC TO SUPPORT MEDIA RELATIONS AND WATER SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 11 December 2013: The Federal Republic of Germany today announced a new commitment to the East African Community (EAC) in order to support higher education and training for future journalists and media professionals.

Germany makes available a financial contribution of 14 million Euros in support of the Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) of the Aga Khan University, a recently established Centre of Excellence for media education in East Africa.

The education and training programmes of the GSMC will have a strong regional focus and will foster a diverse array of media leaders, enterprises and institutions that will be distinguished by high standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility. The GSMC will closely cooperate with the Deutsche Welle Akademie (DWA), which is the media development division of Germany’s well known international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

Furthermore, the Federal Republic of Germany announced a new commitment to the East African Community in the water and sanitation sector. The EAC and Germany believe that coordinated trans boundary investment approaches are needed to cope with the growing demand for safe water, to fight increasing pollution of water systems and to deal with climate-related challenges.

In this regard, Germany committed a first tranche of 10 million Euros to the ‘Trans boundary Water Supply and Sanitation Programme’ in order to contribute to improved water and sanitation infrastructure in selected EAC border towns. The programme will be implemented with the Lake Victoria Basin Organisation (LVBC) of the EAC as Project Executing Agency.

The commitments were announced by a high-ranking German delegation, led by Ralf-Matthias Mohs, Head of Division East Africa, Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation, including Hans Koeppel, Chargé d´Affaires at the German Embassy Dar es salaam, Lena Thiede, Head of Cooperation EAC at the German Embassy Dar es salaam, as well as Burkhard Hinz, Regional Manager West and East Africa, KfW Development Bank.

Speaking at the ceremony Secretary General of East African Community Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera said today’s  signing  demonstrates the strong partnership between the EAC and the Federal Republic of Germany. He applauded Germany for its commitment and consistent support  towards EAC Project and Programes. 

Amb Sezibera affirmed EAC’s readiness to continue close cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany.

Hans Koeppel, Chargé d´Affaires at the German Embassy in Tanzania, said: “The new commitments underline that Germany continues to be a strong partner for the EAC, contributing to an integration process that puts the people in the centre”.

Since as early as 1998, Germany’s development cooperation, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), contributes to the capacity development of the Secretariat of the EAC and the regional integration in East Africa through a variety of programmes and projects. Germany’s funding for Technical and Financial Cooperation with the EAC amounts to a total of 125.9 million Euros. Germany also provides substantial support for the water and governance sectors in selected EAC member states.

FINLAND BOOTS EAC PARTNERSHIP FUND

East African Community

PRESS RELEASE

FINLAND BOOSTS EAC PARTNERSHIP FUND

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 10 December 2013: The Finnish Government  has granted 3 million Euros  to support various regional integration activities through the EAC Partnership Fund. The Grant Agreement was signed by EAC Secretary General Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera and Finnish  Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania who is also accredited to EAC bloc Her Excellency Amb. Sinikka Antila  during the ceremony held  at the Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania.

“ It is a great pleasure for me to make the commitment  for 3 additional year’’  It is worth noticing that after DFID ,Finland is the second biggest supporter to the Fund since 2008,remarked Finnish Ambassador

According to the signed agreement between the Government of Finland and East African Community, the Government of Finland shall make available on a grant basis and subject to annual  parliamentary approval in Finland ,a contribution  amounting up to a maximum of three million Euros to support the EAC  Partnership Fund during the period of  2013-2016.

The first payment of one million Euros shall be made against a written  request upon the entry into force of the agreement. Subsequent payments shall be made in accordance with the actual progress of the activities and on the basis of the financial needs for the coming period, against a written request.

EAC Secretary General Amb. Richard Sezibera thanked the Government of Finland for their continued support in the Partnership Fund . He commended Finnish Government for seeing the need to intensify development co-operation within the EAC.     

Amb Sezibera said that the signing of multi-year agreements with development partners made it possible to predict the contribution to the Partnership Fund and therefore facilitated the development of EAC multi-year plans.

Meanwhile EAC Secretary General today  held  a High Level Dialogue with the Heads of Missions and supporters of Partnership Fund. The dialogue between the two parties focused on the on-going institutional review, financing of the Community, trade and investment, the EAC Partnership Fund, negotiations of South Sudan to join the Community ,signing for the Monetary Union Protocol, Economic and  COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite talks

EAC Chief briefly  informed  the Heads of Mission about  move towards a single customs territory in 2014 was high on the region’s agenda; as well as implementation of the Common Market Protocol. He added the region was also focusing on infrastructure development and recently signing of the Monetary Union Protocol by the EAC Heads of State in Kampala

In attendance were  representatives from UK/DFID, Germany, Finland, France, Sweden, Norway, European Union, USA, World Bank, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Turkey, Netherlands, among others.

The EAC Partnership Fund is a basket fund mechanism with annual contributions from Development Partners (DPs) aimed at supporting the EAC projects and programmes that are geared towards regional integration. It was established on 15 September 2006 and is open to DPs who finance it through Contribution Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between DPs and the EAC