Brazil has promised to closely work together with the East African Community (EAC) in reviving the region’s dilapidated infrastructure.

This was revealed during a meeting the Brazilian Ambassador to Tanzania, Francisco Carlos Soares Luz held with senior EAC officials in Arusha, Tanzania on Monday.   

"We have a lot to share for our common prosperity and development,” an EAC release quotes the Brazilian envoy as saying.

He outlined technology, energy, railways, environment, construction and the agricultural sectors among his country’s possible areas of co-operation with the regional bloc.

Luz commended the EAC integration process and expressed Brazil’s desire to work closely with the five-nation regional bloc.

On his part, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration, Dr Julius Tangus Rotich, thanked Brazil for expressing interest in collaborating with the bloc and assured him of the Secretariat’s full commitment to closer working ties for mutual development.

Ambassador Luz urged the EAC Partner States to maintain the integration tempo after the coming into force of the Customs Union and especially the Common Market, which is expected to start in July.

All five EAC Partner States have ratified the Common Market Protocol, which was signed by the EAC Heads of State in November last year, during the climax of the EAC’s 10th anniversary.

Measured nominally, Brazil’s gross domestic product surpasses $1.5 trillion dollars, the eighth largest in the world, making it a strong partner for EAC with a Gross Domestic Product of more than US$60 billion and a population of approximately 130 million people.

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