Posted on March, 12, 2019 at 10:07 am
PRESIDENT John Magufuli and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have discussed a wide range of issues during a two-day working tour of the chairman of the East African Community (EAC) in the country.
According to a statement issued by Director of Presidential Communications Gerson Msigwa, bilateral talks held by the two leaders focused on economic and trade issues between Tanzania, Rwanda and the entire East African Community (EAC) bloc with a population of over 160 million people.
President Kagame thanked President Magufuli for welcoming him for the talks, expressing his hope that trade, political and cooperation talks would help build the two countries and the entire EAC region.
“I express my sincere thanks to you as a brother and a friend. The people of Rwanda and Tanzania have always enjoyed a brotherly relationship. If we capitalise on this, we will indeed build East Africa and Africa in general. I, therefore, sincerely thank you,” President Kagame said.
He said since Tanzania and Rwanda had cordial relations it was of significant importance for them, together with other EAC members, to spur the bloc’s economic growth.
For his part, President Magufuli thanked President Kagame for choosing Tanzania as his first country to visit since he assumed the position of the chairman of EAC.
“To be sincere I am grateful to you for your visit. This is a good sign of our continued efforts to consolidate our relations and cooperation. I again welcome you to visit Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar,” President Magufuli told his guest.
Yesterday, President Kagame wound up his two-day working tour and flew back home.
Mr Kagame, assumed the position of the chairman of EAC last month during the 20th Summit of the EAC Heads of State, taking over from his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
In his remarks, President Kagame called on all East Africans to ensure EAC worked for the common good. He said EAC was a people-centred bloc and its success would be measured by the number of people benefiting from its programmes.
He told his fellow Heads of State that his focus would be to enhance manufacturing, infrastructural development, improving the provision of healthcare and strengthening security to deal with cross-border threats, especially terrorism and extremism.
Source: Daily News