EAC Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera has assured East Africans that the region’s interests are well taken care of as the bloc engages in rounds of negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).

Sezibera was speaking during the annual EAC Secretary General’s Forum that opened yesterday in Entebbe, Uganda.

The negotiations between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP countries),  were meant to have ended by December 31, 2007, but have dragged on because of the complexity of the process.

But Dr Sezibera told reporters yesterday that the negotiations will be concluded before the end of the year.

"The EAC interests are safe guarded. The draft we have now is very clear on our interests,” the EAC chief said.

Over 100 delegates from the five partner states are attending the two-day event; the third since 2012. The first was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the second last year in Nairobi, Kenya.

Uganda’s Minister for General Duties Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere told participants that this year’s theme; "EAC: My Home, My Business” is particularly exciting given its focus on what matters most to the welfare of individuals as well as the wider society.

"My home represents where I draw my sense of belonging. My business represents my source of livelihood. Together they are a very powerful ingredient to my survival and well-being,” Kabwegyere said.

Prof. Yash Tandon, from Uganda, a renowned intellectual and policy-maker, also gave  a key note address on the forum’s theme.

Prof. Tandon is the former executive director of the South Centre; a think tank founded by leaders of the South, among them China, India and Brazil. Tanzania’s Founding President Dr Julius Nyerere was the first Chairman of the Centre.

The delegates were drawn from the Partner States’ Private Sector Organisations (PSOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), professional bodies, academia/universities, media, EAC organs and institutions, development partners and other interest groups.

The forum seeks dialogue on opportunities and challenges provided by the regional integration process as well as share experiences.