Francis Ayieko, Special Correspondent
21 August 2007
Nairobi — The membership of the East African Business Council is expected to swell significantly following the recent admission of Rwanda and Burundi into the East African Community.
The council, the apex body of the business community in East Africa, has stepped up efforts to recruit members from the two countries, which officially joined the Community barely two months ago.
Two key officials of the EABC - executive director Charles Mbogori and communications and marketing specialist Bobi Odiko - visited Kigali and Bujumbura early this month to promote the Council to the business community.
The two held discussions with the private sector and key government officials in the two countries and went back to Arusha with an assurance that a number of organisations from the two countries will join the Council before the end of the year.
In Rwanda, the EABC delegation met with 20 bodies - both corporate and associations - in Kigali. In Burundi, the EABC officials held discussions with Minister for Trade and Industry Estella Nicayenzi.
According to Mr Odiko, three to five new members from Rwanda are expected to join EABC before the end of the year. He, however, did not confirm the expected number of new members from Burundi.
The mandate of the EABC is to promote private sector competitiveness in trade and investment in the region. It works very closely with the East African Community.
The treaty for the establishment of the EAC recognises the role of the private sector as key in pushing the regional integration process.
Mr Mbogori said there was a need for the private sector in the region to work together and speak with one voice.
He asked all the EAC partner states to promote policies that will help improve the business climate in the region and lead to poverty reduction. This, he said, would help in building a strong economic bloc and a unified EAC.
"The EABC will support efforts to create a business climate in the region that reflects a sense of East African unity and that is conducive for entrepreneurial growth, and poverty reduction as part of helping the region achieve the Millennium Development Goals," Mr Mbogori said.
He pledged that the EABC would continue to carry out lobbying and advocacy activities around the three-year-old East African Community Customs Union to give the private sector a platform to be listened to and its views taken into consideration.
This is the second time EABC officials are visiting the two countries. In September last year, EABC, led by the then chairman Abid Alam, held discussions with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Burundi counterpart Pierre Nkurunziza, and various government and private-sector representatives in the two nations.
The discussions centred on how EABC and the private sector in those countries could help create a conducive business environment in the region.
The EABC also signed a Memoranda of Understanding with the Rwanda Private Sector Federation and with the Burundi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Handicraft.
The memoranda allow the private sector bodies in both countries to access the services of EABC, which include participation in working groups and campaigns, regular first-hand information on EABC issues and top level visits. During its last Annual General Meeting in Nairobi in June, the EABC changed its constitution to allow both the Kigali and Bujumbura associations to formally become its members.
The entry of Rwanda and Burundi into the EAC will lead to greater harmonisation of common external tariffs and promotion of trans-boundary projects.
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