EAC and Industrial Development & SMEs
The EAC Partner States aspire to transform their economies to a modern and industrialised status that can sustainably generate sufficient outputs to satisfy both domestic and export markets and rapidly increase per capita incomes to improve the living standards of their people. The industrial sector has the potential to contribute significantly to the economy by creating jobs, stimulating the development of other sectors like agriculture and services, increasing foreign exchange earnings, and modernising the lives of people. To address the challenges of industrial development, regional cooperation needs concerted efforts to create an effective policy coordination framework geared towards eliminating barriers to growth and enterprise upgrading at national and regional level. These efforts will also facilitate the identification of leverage elements that can be harnessed to accelerate the industrialisation process in each Partner State.
The German Government supports this EAC Sector under Core Area 1 of EAC-German cooperation as defined by BMZ 2030 – “Sustainable Economic Development, Training and Employment” in the Intervention Area of “Socially and Environmentally Sound Supply Chains, Trade and Sustainable Infrastructure”. The cooperation directly contributes to implement two of the eight priority areas defined by the 6th EAC Development Strategy, namely “Strengthening Productive and Social Sectors” and “Awareness Creation”. The BMZ 2030 reform strategy focuses on a new quality of cooperation. More information on BMZ 2030 can be found here.