East African Heads of States will this week meet in Kampala for a fundamental infrastructure and health financing retreat.
The fourth meeting of its kind will be held under the theme; "Deepening and widening regional integration through Infrastructure and Health Sector Development in the EAC Partner States.''
It is scheduled for the 21st - 22nd February, 2018 at Speke Resort, Munyonyo, in Kampala.
The last infrastructure and health financing retreat was held in Nairobi in November 2014 with its sidelines meeting attracting over 400 participants, among them representatives of the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the European Union.
It endorsed a ten-year investment strategy for priority regional projects and directed the Council of Ministers to mobilise resources for its implementation. The meeting at Speke Resort Munyonyo is expected to receive a progress report regarding its implementation three years after.
According to the EAC secretariat, the retreat in Kampala comes at the time when the region's ten year infrastructure strategy has transitioned from the conception phase to the implementation phase. The Heads of States are also expected to consider the reports on actions taken to tackle some of the challenges observed at the 3rd retreat.
One of the issues that remained pending was a suggestion for an East African intermodal transport strategy. The leaders had suggested that the World Bank could be contacted for possible financing of the project. The World Bank has in the past provided $1.2 billion for the East African Community integration.
The leaders hope that they can still get funds from the World Bank to fund projects to facilitate the Extractives boom in the area of oil and gas. The projects under the intermodal transport system include the revival of in land waterways on Lake Victoria and Tanganyika along with associated roads and railway links.