ARUSHA: THE East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members have met in Abuja, Nigeria for the purpose of enhancing cooperation among them.
This was revealed here in Arusha in the statement released recently to the media by the Senior Public Relations Officer, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs of EAC, Mr Simon Owaka,
According to the statement, a high-level delegation of the EAC led by the Deputy Secretary General in charge of the Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sectors, Andrea Malueth visited the ECOWAS Commission Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria recently on a benchmarking mission to enhance integration with EAC bloc.
During that visit, Mr Malueth represented the EAC Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki. While in Abuja, the EAC delegation was received by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray.
It was disclosed that during their conversation, Dr Touray highlighted the importance of collaborations among the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and it was high time the two parties learn from each other.
On his side, among other things, Mr Malueth emphasised the importance of EAC learning from the experiences of ECOWAS in their journey to effectively promote trade and integration.
“We believe that EAC and ECOWAS can learn from each other and jointly promote regional integration in Africa,” said Malueth.
However, the statement further revealed that the EAC delegation also held discussions with the Office of the Vice-President on institutional reforms implemented at the ECOWAS Commission in the last decade. It was also noted that there were sectoral discussions with the Commissioner for Internal Services, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation and the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture.
In order to let things work, both sides agreed to further foster bilateral engagement to strengthen peer learning between regional economic communities.
The statement said that the mission was supported by GIZ as part of the cooperation between the German Government and the EAC on organisational development.
