Arusha, 22 July 2022 (TDI): The East African Community (EAC) held a High-Level Retreat for the Summit on the EAC Common Market in Arusha, Tanzania. The summit aimed to notice the progress of implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol.

Highlights from the Summit

The summit broadly dealt with the progress of implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol. In this respect, bloc leaders also adopted strategic measures to unlock the lags and bottlenecks in establishing the Common Market.

They also agreed on a roadmap for the full realization of the Common Market. EAC’s Chairperson Uhuru Kenyatta and Secretary General Dr. Peter Mathuki also launched the EAC Bypass Road connecting Tanzania-Kenya before the Summit.

The leaders, therefore, laid emphasis on transnational roads for connectivity and trade. The leaders also lauded the admission of DR Congo into the bloc earlier this year.

The country was appreciated for its mineral wealth which could create jobs and revenue for the East African bloc in the future. Agricultural transformation of countries was also under discussion.

Also Read: DR Congo officially joins the East African Community

Somalia’s application for admission to EAC Common Market

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made an appeal to the Heads of State to have his country admitted as a member of the bloc.

President Mohamud said that his country had made an application to join the bloc in 2014. However, the circumstances did not allow the application to be processed.

He added that Somalia had had a long-time dream of joining the bloc with which she shares strong historical, cultural, linguistic, and economic links.

He asserted Somalia had a lot to contribute to a stronger and more prosperous EAC including 10 million acres of arable land.

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