The East African Community (EAC) meeting on social security and mutual recognition of academic qualifications, ended Wednesday with officials agreeing to meet again next month to come up with conclusions.

Prudence Sebahizi, the Regional Integration Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that the session to finalize negotiations will be conducted between July 11 and  21 in Mwanza, Tanzania.

On what had so far been negotiated, Sebahizi said that officials had agreed on acknowledging common skills as part of the mutual recognition of academic qualifications.

"We agreed on the common descriptors that will guide those people who have not followed formal education. Actually those are vocational and technical people who have undergone such training.” he said.

He added that the meeting had also tasked professional bodies in partner states to come up with standards which would guide them on recognizing various professionals.

"We have realized that the professional area is too wide, we have so many categories of professions and for each profession they could come up with common standards,” he said.

The meeting, Sebahizi added, discussed a number of technical areas which include portability on benefits.
Uganda’s Minister of East African Community affairs Eriya Kategaya, had earlier told a press conference that the annex on social security would play a great role in realizing free movement of labour in the region.

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