EAC, Aga Khan team up to boost regional growth

Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in talks with His Highness The Aga Khan at State House in Dar es Salaam last week. Photo/CORRESPONDENT

What you need to know:

  • Regional trading bloc and AKDN agree to partner in cultural, economic and social development

The East African Community (EAC) and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) have signed an agreement to strengthen and broaden cooperation in economic, social and cultural development throughout East Africa.

His Highness The Aga Khan, the founder and chairman of AKDN, and ambassador Richard Sezibera, secretary-general of the EAC, signed the agreement at the EAC headquarters in Arusha last week.

The agreement is designed to facilitate and accelerate development to bring long-term sustainable benefits for the people of EAC partner States.

Recognising the ethnic and religious diversity of the region, the agreement places emphasis on the importance of pluralism in building healthy, sustainable and prosperous societies and seeks to build on the multiple traditions of East Africa’s cultures, faiths and natural habitats.

The agreement also stipulates that AKDN and EAC will work jointly, and together with the Government of Tanzania, to develop the Arusha region as a hub for commerce, governance and intellectual exchange.

Mr Sezibera emphasised the EAC’s commitment to fostering cooperation agreements with regional and international organisations and development partners interested in the pursuit of EAC’s objectives.

“This partnership reflects the vision articulated in the first EAC Development Strategy in 1997,” he said.