Policymakers and government officials from 14 East African countries convened for the 24th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE).
This two-day meeting was held with a call for better coordination among member states in order to collectively build back better and more sustainably post covid-19.
Through its East Africa sub-Regional office in Kigali, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), held the meeting under the theme: Economic and Social Impacts of Covid-19 crisis on East Africa: Strategies for building back better.
The Director of the East African office of the ECA, Mama Keita highlighted that this was an annual event held to discuss the policies, opportunities and challenges of the region in order to jointly take a path to move the region forward and foster structural transformation and sustainable development.
Furthermore, Mr. Osman Saleh, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea commended ECA for organizing the virtual event, since the pandemic has posed a greater threat in recent times confronting the ideals of humanity.
He mentioned that situations have been worse for the East African sub-region due to the rise of a recent locust invasion and flooding even in the midst of the pandemic which had a significant toll on people’s livelihoods and the region’s development at large.
More so, the sub-region has been haunted by recurrent occurrence of strife, poverty, terrorism and disease outbreaks, which have largely contributed to its already worse situation.
“Nevertheless, countries in our region were among the very first countries to take aggressive measures against Covid-19 through mandatory quarantine and have tackled the pandemic and its effects by mobilizing national capacities and stimulus packages wherever possible, in the interest of social protection and macro-economic recovery, ” he added.
In addition, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, the East Africa Community Secretary General, stated that considering the impact of the pandemic in the medium to long term warrants the need for broader discussions centered on the opportunities, interventions and priorities for a post-Covid recovery.
Amb. Mfumukeko emphasized that an approach that looks at building a strong coordination mechanism is essential for the success of the regional responses, and this is exactly what policymakers have learnt.
Policymakers discuss Building resilient economies throughout the continent
The Acting Director-General of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Ms. Nnenna Nwabufo, emphasized the importance of building a strong regional front through coordination and collaboration. This would help in containing cross border transmissions and strengthen surveillance systems.
She also stressed that it was important to accelerate improvements in Africa’s business environment through the participation of investors as well as actors in the local and foreign private sector. So as to facilitate Africa’s industrialization and integration process and create job avenues for the growing youthful population of Africa. “This will strengthen Africa’s resilience and bring the trajectory of our economies back better and faster.”
The virtual meeting involved several participants including representatives of youth and women groups in member countries, civil societies, policymakers, private sector associations, academia and media.
