EAC AND UEMOA SHARE EXPERIENCES ON CROSS BORDER LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The EAC Secretary General Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera make his remarks

East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 19 March 2014: A two-day workshop themed Cross Border Local Economic Development-Synergy Perspectives for Joint Action between Local Governments and Regional Integration Organizations in EAC and West African Economic and Monetary Union (Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine - UEMOA) is underway at the Mt. Meru Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania.

The workshop's core objective is to deepen the exchange of experience between East and West African delegates from regional, national and local levels and institutions on regional integration, cross-border cooperation and associated opportunities and challenges for local governments, communities and businesses.

Officiating at the workshop yesterday, the Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera said EAC and UEMOA share the same belief that effective implementation of the regional agenda will steer the regions to greater heights of regional and international competitiveness, bring about faster and robust socio-economic development and boost the welfare and prosperity of their people.

“We recognize that local governments shape local economies and politics, and that it is at the local levels where many national policies are implemented and translated into specific goods and services. It is also at the local levels that many effects of regional integration can be felt”, asserted the Secretary General.

Amb. Sezibera reiterated that local governments are the mouthpiece for the aspirations of citizens and form a building-bloc that deserve special place in regional integration across Africa.

The Secretary General commended the German International Cooperation (GIZ) for supporting the integration agenda and “for facilitating the workshop and follow-up steps with which we can now work in cementing the peoples of East Africa and West Africa for cooperation and strong partnership. Our collaboration and political will to develop our peoples must be seen and felt”.

Welcoming the delegates to Arusha, on behalf of the Lord Mayor of Arusha, Councilor Paul Matthysen of Moshono Ward commended the EAC and UEMOA partnership in bringing the workshop to Arusha saying “the role of the local governments in regional integration and development cannot be overemphasized”. We in the local governments are closer to the grass roots and are ready to play our part”.

The Chairperson of the East African Local Government Association (EALGA) and President of Uganda Local Government Association, Hon. Fredrick Gume Ngobi underscored the benefits of regional integration among them being creating bigger markets where forces of demand and supply come into play to the advantages of the local people. He said local governments must be in the forefront of integration as they are closer to the ordinary citizens. “Integration will lead us to efficiency, competitiveness and add value to our products” affirmed the EALGA official.

The Coordinator of GIZ/All Africa Ministerial Conference on Decentralization and Local Development (AMCOD), Mr. François Menguelé noted that the workshop will lead to increased mutual understanding of the opportunities and challenges of regional integration and cross-border cooperation.

He re-affirmed GIZ/AMCOD’s continued support aimed at mobilizing Regional Economic Communities and Local Governments Associations to forge solid cooperation and exchange, for the benefits of citizens.

The workshop has brought together participants from East and West Africa's regional organisations and local governments associations as well as representatives from civil society and business communities of these regions, Southern Africa and the African Union.

In August-September 2013, a study on cross-border Local Economic Development (LED) commissioned by the EAC Secretariat and the East African Local Government Association (EALGA) was undertaken in Namanga Border Post (between Tanzania and Kenya), Akanyaru Border Post (between Rwanda and Burundi) and Beit Bridge Border Post (between South Africa and Zimbabwe).

This study referred to the high potential that peer-learning on LED holds for boosting trans-boundary cooperation among border municipalities to enhance their development record whilst improving their visibility as connecting points and impact zones of an “African integration from the grassroots”. Since February 2014, a similar study is under way in West Africa.