Page 86 - The Presidency may 2020

The President’s Digest May 2020 Surmounting CV-19 Challenge

KOMESHA KORONA

EAC leaders okayed movement of

goods, fight against Covid-19 together

The leaders who included
Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya),
Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and
Salva Kiir Mayardit (South Sudan)
acknowledged the challenge posed
by cross-border trade in the fight
against Coronavirus, especially the
emergence of truck drivers as a
high risk carrier population.
The Heads of State therefore
tasked their respective state
agencies responsible for health,
transport and EAC affairs to roll-out
border screening and testing
measures especially for truck
drivers that do not compromise
cross-border movement of goods. President Uhuru gesturing during the virtual Summit with EAC Presidents.
President Uhuru Kenyatta urged member states to prioritize local production of
emphasized the need for collective EAC interventions essential supplies needed to combat Covid-19.
against the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Further, the Heads of State encouraged EAC countries to
“A unified stand is what we need to combat this pandemic invest more in agricultural production, agro-processing and
in the region," President Kenyatta told his regional peers, value addition so as to empower the sector to act as an
adding that contact tracing had helped Kenya to isolate import substitute in this period when global trade is
and treat those infected by the virus. suppressed by the current public health crisis.
“We continue to actively enforce contact tracing which has The leaders singled out Small and Medium Enterprises
proved to be very effective in identifying those who have (SMEs) as the sector with the highest potential to cushion
come into contact with infected persons,” President the region against adverse economic effects of the global
Kenyatta said. Coronavirus pandemic and recommended the
The Heads of State expressed satisfaction with measures establishment of special purpose financing schemes to
taken so far by regional governments in managing Covid- support the sector.
19 and thanked the EAC Secretariat as well as the Council The Heads of State thanked development partners
of Ministers for ensuring the region is able to minimize including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
cross-border spread of the virus while ensuring Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) for their
uninterrupted movement of goods. continued support to EAC states in combating the virus.
The leaders acknowledged the slowdown caused by the
global pandemic on the region’s key economic sectors and
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