Museveni says Fuel Price Crisis Opportunity to Shift to Cheap and Cleaner Energy Sources

The EAC Common Market Protocol will be implemented, as stated at the Heads of State Summit.

The Summit, which gathered in person for the first time in three years, emphasized that the Common Market was the most effective approach to boost intraregional commerce and the region’s economy.

Under the direction of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the High-Level Retreat for the Summit on the EAC Common Market was held on Thursday, 21, in Arusha, Tanzania.

It spent considerable time discussing the huge potential provided by the protocol to the area and how to take advantage of them for the benefit of all Partner States.

President Yoweri Museveni stated during the retreat that if the problem of market size isn’t resolved, neither a nation nor a region can flourish.

President Museveni declared, “The more items people can buy from you, the better,” noting that market expansion has been a global trend for the past 200 years in order to ensure prosperity.

Although Latin America had abundant natural resources, he noted that the region’s economic policies were in disarray, and as a result, its people were suffering and migrating to the US to escape poverty.

Museveni stated that achieving economic growth in all sectors required a solid policy framework.

President Museveni spoke about COVID-19 and noted that it had both positive and negative aspects. He also mentioned that Uganda was modernizing its ARV factory to develop vaccines for deadly diseases and perform research.

The current fuel price crisis, he continued, provided an additional chance for the EAC and Africa to seize control of their future by switching to less expensive and greener energy sources.

He revealed that Uganda would modernize its Kiira auto facility to build fuel-efficient electrified vehicles.

President Uhuru of Kenya remarked that in order for the area to achieve its goal of becoming one giant market spanning from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, infrastructural development was essential.

EAC leaders at the Arusha EAC Heads of State Summit

Kenyatta pointed out that the Common Market would only be achieved by East Africa if its people could freely move and transport commodities around the region as well as interact with one another.

He added that the Multinational Bagamoyo-Horohoro-Lunga Lunga-Malindi Road, which runs along the beaches of Kenya and Tanzania, is now being built and will be opened shortly. He stated that Kenya was eager to create transnational roads reaching all of its borders.

In order to lower the cost of moving people and commodities throughout the area, the EAC Chairperson stated that both the Northern and Central Transport Corridors have undergone extensive infrastructure development, including the construction of modern trains.

He continued by saying that EAC had a great opportunity to develop alongside its expanding market and therefore lessen its reliance on the developed world economically.

Kenyatta also justified his government’s decision to borrow money from China, arguing that without infrastructure improvement, Kenya, and consequently the EAC, would continue to be the region’s main source of raw commodities.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania urged intensive agriculture using irrigation and rainwater collecting to quadruple regional food output and improve food security.

President Hassan emphasized the importance of providing farmers with affordable finance so they may buy inputs to increase agricultural production.

She added that appropriate storage was essential to achieving food security and that pre- and post-harvest losses had a negative influence on agricultural production in the area.

The head of state of Tanzania asked for the creation of a regional food balance sheet that would list what each nation produces and to what extent.

According to her, Burundi is a good example of agricultural transformation because of the country’s increased food production brought on by solid government and enhanced security.

According to President Hassan, Tanzania is resolved to raise its maize production from the current level of 6 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes in 2023. He also noted that with careful planning, the area has the ability to feed itself while still having a surplus to export.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi noted that the EAC was performing well in terms of connecting its markets through the development of infrastructure and allowing free movement of people.

According to President Ndayishimiye, the lack of collaboration in infrastructure development is the reason why the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), of which Burundi is a member, is not interconnected.

President Paul Kagame’s representative, Rwanda’s Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente, stated that Partner States’ removal of all limitations on air transportation services would be the only way to lower the region’s high cost of airline tickets.

South Sudan’s Revenue Authority has boosted non-oil revenue collection, according to Minister of Presidential Affairs Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who spoke on behalf of President Salva Kiir.

According to Hon. Benjamin, the nation is uncharted terrain with abundant resources, including livestock and wildlife.

As a guest of the Summit, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the retreat and pleaded with the Heads of State to accept his nation as a member of the bloc.

President Mohamud acknowledged that his nation submitted an application to join the union in 2014, but he noted that the circumstances precluded processing the application.

According to President Mohamud, Somalia has long held the desire of entering the union with which it has close historical, cultural, linguistic, and economic ties.

He expressed gratitude to the EAC Partner States for their outstanding efforts, including peacekeeping, throughout the years to stabilize his country.

The future of Somalia and the EAC, according to President Mohamud, are intertwined. He also noted that Somalia has a lot to offer an EAC that is stronger and more prosperous, including 10 million acres of agricultural land.

The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, H.E. Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, who attended the event in the place of Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, was also present.