International: 9th August, 2018: A one-day appraisal workshop on the Federal Republic of Germany’s support to the EAC integration process was held on Wednesday 8th August, 2018 at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The appraisal workshop, which was co-chaired by the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Christophe Bazivamo and Dr. Kirsten Focken, the Cluster Coordinator-EAC-GIZ Programme based in Arusha, was attended by the Director General of the EAC Customs and Trade Directorate, Mr. Kenneth Bagamuhunda, Heads of Departments that are involved in implementing the activities supported by GIZ, and the representative of the German Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Ms. Norzin Grigoleit-Dagya.
Also in attendance were the Consultants undertaking the appraisal exercise for the 4th phase of the EAC-GIZ Support Programme that comes to an end in mid-2019.
Addressing the workshop participants, Hon. Bazivamo commended the long standing support of the German Government to the EAC integration and urged the participants to come up with clear and smart project objectives, outputs and indicators for the next phase of the cooperation.
On her part, Dr. Focken, the Cluster Coordinator-EAC-GIZ Programme, thanked all the participants for active participation and input into the mission. She said that the cooperation will continue in many areas with more focus on implementation to achieve tangible results and demonstrate the benefits of regional integration in East Africa.
The process of planning for a new phase of the programme started with consultations between the EAC and the German government, which took place on 18 September 2017. The consultations took into consideration the key strategic interventions as laid down in a document presented by the EAC Secretariat.
Both sides agreed in their joint minutes that Regional Economic Integration should remain the priority area for technical cooperation.