EAC Heads of State summit due next month

KAMPALA - East Africa’s Heads of State are scheduled to meet early next month in Arusha for the 12th ordinary summit. Among the items on the Summit’s agenda is the consideration of the Annual Progress Report of the Council of Ministers and the Report on the Heads of State Retreat on Food Security and Climate Change. President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania is the current Chairman of the Summit who is expected to handover the chairmanship. The theme for the retreat is “EAC: Transforming Agriculture through Innovation”. At the retreat, the Heads of State are expected to receive from the Council of Ministers the EAC Food Security Action Plan, EAC Climate Change Policy and the draft Summit Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change. Directors or Commissioners of Agriculture from each Partner State are expected to make presentations on the current national situations on food security and climate change and their impacts. Heads of State are expected to hold round table discussions on the presentations with a view of providing further guidance and impetus in the implementation of the EAC Food Security Action Plan and the EAC Climate Change Policy. Meanwhile the 21st Ordinary meeting of the EAC Council of the Ministers will be held from November 22-29 at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) to consider progress in the implementation of various EAC programmes and projects. Its theme is “EAC: A Second Decade of Higher achievement Professor Nuhu Hatibu, CEO of Kilimo Trust, will highlight the regional perspective of food security, while Professor Laban A. Ogallo, Director of IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) will present a paper on the impacts of climate change in the region. Ends