By Our Correspondent
Executive Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ms. Katsura Miyazaki, visits Tanzania, and meets with Hon. Annette Ssemuwemba Mutaawe who is the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs of the East African Community (EAC).
The Executive Senior Vice President of JICA had a very productive meeting with the Deputy Secretary General of the EAC. JICA and EAC have had a long-standing partnership lasted for over 20 years.
The meeting focused on deepening partnership between JICA and the EAC with an emphasis on ongoing and future development projects in the region.
Ms. Miyazaki said that JICA has been dispatching experts to EAC in areas of infrastructure and customs, plans are underway to dispatch expert on rice development. She invited EAC to participate in the TICAD 9 to be held in Yokohama in August 2025. She highlighted that improvement in infrastructure, agriculture and capacity development is crucial for regional integration. JICA’s assistance is people centered.
EAC’s Deputy Secretary General Hon. Annette appreciated JICA for supporting EAC in customs and infrastructure development in areas of One Stop Border Post (OSBP), Vehicle Load Control, Roadside Service Station, capacity building, among others. She noted that food security is important and EAC is looking forward to receiving JICA’s expert on rice development. She asked for more cooperation with JICA on capacity development because it is continuous.
Hon. Annette outlined new opportunities of cooperation between JICA and EAC including digitalization in OSBP, strategy implementation, learning from Japan’s experience on customs, institutional support as digital screens and projectors in conference, among others.
Ms. Miyazaki noted that digitalization in OSBP is important and will be one of the focus areas to be covered by the coming JICA’s expert on customs. She urged EAC to utilize expertise on rice development supported by JICA in Tanzania for 40 years. Regarding the new opportunities of cooperation between JICA and EAC as outlined by EAC’s Deputy Secretary General, JICA and Government of Japan will discuss internally and see how they can support.
The visit by the Executive Senior Vice President of JICA to EAC underscores Japan’s ongoing commitment to fostering strong, mutually beneficial relationships with East African Community, building on existing partnerships and exploring new opportunities for collaboration.
Ultimately, both leaders agreed that JICA and EAC will continue discussions and work together towards achieving common goals for the prosperity both parties.
