The forthcoming second East African Community (EAC) Investment Conference, will attract up to 2000 participants, The New Times has learnt.

The meeting scheduled towards the end of July at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, is the second of its kind in the region after the first one that took place in Kigali last year.

According to the EAC Secretary General, Juma Mwapachu, the participants will represent key regional and international trade and investment actors from over thirty countries.

The EAC senior official says that the conference will primarily focus on key sectors of growth which include; banking and finance, manufacturing, agriculture and agro processing, infrastructure, tourism and energy.

Infrastructure and energy are key sectors in the region that still need special attention, the reason Mwapachu argues that focus will be put especially on hydro, geothermal, methane and natural gas, roads and railways.

"Challenges of the global liquidity and credit crunch, corporate finance in challenging conditions and challenges in the EAC integration agenda are other major topics to be discussed,” Mwapachu told reporters recently.  

Plenary sessions, panel discussions, debates and live on stage interviews with leading personalities will also be conducted in areas like information and communication technology.

The Kigali Investment conference last year was attended by all the five EAC heads of state and it attracted over 1,000 participants from the region and international community.  

The investment conference is an annual event held on a rotational basis in all the five EAC capital cities whose major goal is to market the region as a single investment destination.

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