An experts' meeting held in Kampala, Uganda, Friday, concluded work on the final draft Industrialization Policy and Strategy, which aims at providing a regional framework for promoting industrialization in the East African Community (EAC) bloc.

The five-day forum, organised by the EAC Secretariat in conjunction with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), identified policy interventions as well as proposed priority projects to be undertaken at regional level in order to foster industrial development.

"Under a proposed regional industry promotion scheme, the EAC will encourage investments in fertilizers and agro chemicals; agro processing; pharmaceuticals; petro-chemical and gas processing; iron ore and other mineral processing industries as well as energy and bio-fuels; which have been identified as priority regional industries,” reads part of the statement from the bloc’s secretariat.

The statement adds that the policy targets to achieve the following by the year 2030: contribute to the transformation of the EAC economies into middle income economies with per capita income of $ 1,300 up from the current average of$558.

Others are to increase the manufacturing industry’s contribution to the Growth Domestic Product to at least 25 percent from an average of 9.7percent and contribute to a sustained manufacturing growth rate of 12 percent from the current 4 percent.

The regional industrialisation further targets to boost employment in the manufacturing sector from the current 456,000 to 2.3 million and increase growth rates for manufactured exports to 52 percent from the current 32 percent.

To fast track decision making in matters of industrialization in the region and provide leadership and policy guidance, the experts recommended the establishment of a Sectoral Council on EAC Industrialization in line with the Summit directive to ensure that the EAC Industrialization Policy.

During the meeting, the experts proposed a Regional Industrial Observatory (RIO) which would provide timely industrial information for policy reviews and evidence-based decision making in the region.

They also called for the full implementation of the provisions of the EAC Customs Union and Common Market protocols to buttress the Industrialization Strategy’s implementation.

The final draft of the Industrialization Policy and Strategy will be presented to the Summit of Heads of State for approval at its meeting slated for 30 November 2011 in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The meeting was attended by experts drawn from Ministries responsible for industrialization; industrial research and technology transfer institutions; manufacturers’ associations; Development Finance Institutions and Ministries responsible for trade from the Partner States. In addition, selected international and regional experts from UNIDO and ECOWAS were also in attendance.

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