NAIROBI - President Paul Kagame has called for greater regional integration efforts, dismissing reports that one of the East African countries is derailing the integration process.

The President, who is also the Chairperson of the EAC Heads of State Summit, made the remarks yesterday in a press briefing he held with members of the Kenyan media at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

He was responding to a question raised by one of the reporters who claimed Tanzania was dragging its feet in enabling the East African Community (EAC) achieve quick regional integration.

"Matters should not be put out of context. In forming a regional integration project like ours – the EAC, people are coming in at different levels in different areas,” said Kagame who is in Kenya to attend the EAC Investment Conference.

"Nationally there are concerns in discussions to harmonize different policies to move forward; people will come up with different ideas about different things because they are affected differently for different reasons.”
 
He added that progress had been registered in several discussions that are ongoing to reach a consensus on different issues.

The President implored that emphasis should be put in highlighting the success registered by the regional bloc, adding that different concerns had been taken on board with a major objective of deepening regional integration.

"I don’t see a crisis at all and I don’t see any country not being interested in the project of regional integration,” he said.

Infrastructure

Flanked by the EAC Secretary General, Juma Mwapachu, the President said that financial support from member states of the regional bloc and development partners had enabled infrastructure development both at national and regional levels.

One of the projects the EAC is handling at a regional level is the construction of the multi purpose 240km Arusha- Namanga - Athi River road that crosses through Tanzania to Kenya.

"We have been doing this by upgrading that kind of investment to a regional status by working together as a region. We are already thinking of how we can have that integrated in the wider plans that are there for the EAC,” Kagame said.

On the entry of new members into the EAC, the head of state said that the regional bloc still has its doors open, but hastened to add that any such cases would be treated depending on merit.

"We want to urgently and speedily consolidate what we have, but there is a window to look at different cases and I think each case will be treated on its own merit,” the President said.

During the conference, President Kagame called upon Africans to make use of the global economic crisis, saying the meltdown presents substantial opportunities for innovation and changing mindset.

He said that to achieve this, there is great need for a sense of moral purpose and objectivity to guide Africa through even more difficult times.

"The era of pointing fingers to those who are long gone or far away is over. We shall take back our past, make informed strategies, take action in the present and ultimately decide our own destiny,” said the President, who was the keynote speaker in his capacity as EAC Chair.

He pointed out that poverty is not simply lack of shelter and nutrition, but that "it destroys aspirations and self esteem and persists when people are excluded from global networks of productivity,”

Kagame criticised those who wrongfully perceive Africa as a continent not hit by the global financial crisis just because institutions are not fully integrated into the financial markets.

"Some observers even found comfort in that assumption and concluded that our continent would emerge from the crisis reasonably well,” he told the conference.
He said that not being part of the global economy is a crisis in itself, and that Africa cannot learn if it’s not part of global networks.

"We cannot learn at the required rate to spur initiatives, foster prospective human values and make our societies stronger,” he added.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki also emphasised that the economic meltdown should be an opportunity for the East African region to re position itself, and that there is a need to change many people's perceptions on Africa.

The conference, which has brought together an estimated 2000 delegates, also attracted regional heads of state including Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, the President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunzinza, and the President of Zanzibar Amani Abeid Karume.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was represented by Eriya Kategaya, Uganda’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community affairs while Karume stood in for Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

Ends