East African Business Week

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI-East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera has said the secretariat is working on harnessing the potential of Lake Tanganyika by attracting investments to the lake basin.
"Creating awareness and attracting investors and increasing awareness of the importance of Lake Tanganyika is one of the major reasons why we have organized the Lake Tanganyika Development Conference which opens on November 27 in Bujumbura.
Amb. Sezibera said in addition to raising awareness about one of the region's most important shared trans-boundary natural resources, EAC would also use the the conference to woo investors to the basin, which presents opportunities in transport and communication infrastructure; tourism; agri-business and fisheries; trade and industry; and investment-led research among others.
"We want people to be fully aware of the potential available in the lake, which is shared by four countries; Tanzania, Burundi, DRC and Zambia, the is a lot of potential that need to be tapped in the lake through investment as it is in other lakes in the region," he told journalists from the five Partner States who are in Burundi.
He challenged the media  to play an active role in ensuring East Africans are involved in the integration project by providing a medium for citizens to interface with their leaders to discuss pertinent EAC issues and in the process address fears and reservations towards integration saying some of them result from a lack of information.
"When the people are aware of the community, see it and feel its presence, they would appreciate more and acknowledge its benefits and prospects,"he said.
Amb. Sezibera, who also addressed himself to various EAC-related subjects ranging from trade to the economy and regional security, emphasized the need for the Partner States to speed up work towards the East African Monetary Union, which he said would put the region on a firmer economic footing.
"Currency fluctuations [in the region] are a reflection of underlying economic fundamentals. A monetary union with the accompanying economic and financial integration would make our region more competitive," he said, adding that the region needed to boost industrial growth, food production and energy generation, among others.
Sezibera reiterated the bloc's commitment to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union and explained that any delays were because the EAC negotiators "wanted to get the right EPA for East Africa".
He reaffirmed EAC's support for ongoing initiatives to pacify Somalia.