Today, Wednesday, 16^th February 2022, Honorable Rwanyindo Kayirangwa Fanfan, Minister of Public Service and Labour, who was also the Country Representative, addressed the East African Community Partner States Meeting to establish a Regional Consultative Process (RCP) on Migration for the East African Community (EAC), which took place at Kigali Marriott Hotel.

Participants included representatives of EAC Partner States, Ministers responsible for Labour and Interior/Home Affairs, Chiefs of Immigration; Deputy Secretary General for EAC; UN Resident Coordinator; Regional Coordinator of International Organization on Migration; Permanent Secretaries; Under Secretaries; Principal Secretaries and other Senior Officials from the East African Community.

In her opening remarks, Minister Rwanyindo, thanked the organisers of the conference as well as participants from the East African Community. She said: “I would like to express my gratitude for honoring our Country to host this first ever Conference on Regional Consultative Process on Migration for the East African Community. Allow me to extend my sincere gratitude to the leadership of the EAC Secretariat and IOM for having organized and facilitated the convening of this meeting.”

In his remarks, Mr. Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community assured the commitment of EAC towards a smooth implementation of the Regional Consultative Process (RCP) on Migration. He said: "The EAC is set to the Treaty Agenda towards improvement of free movement of people, free movement of goods, labour, capital and services, and always together with persons. The EAC common market protocol calls all Partner States to work together and allow free movement of people across all nation borders without VISA requirements, throughout collaboration among our Partner States."

Mohammed Abdiker, the Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa, said: “It is a significant milestone to EAC towards a common approach to address the drivers of irregular migration such as insecurity, climate change, and lack of livelihoods, support durable solutions for people on the move & facilitate regional integration & mobility.”

Minister Rwanyindo believes that once the RCP is established, will be a milestone to address regional matters, where she said: “Currently, our migration policies are still unharmonized yet the need for Partner States to discuss various interventions and collaboration on immigration, labour and employment is a pressing matter. I therefore implore you to see this Forum as a conduit to better collaboration, cooperation and mobilization of resources to support regional matters through a single platform.”

The Regional Consultative Process (RCP) on Migration for the East African Community (EAC), which was concluded today, started on 14^th February 2022 and was conducted while the International Organisation for Migration celebrates the Migration Week.

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation founded in 1967. It is currently made up of six Partner States: The Republic of Burundi, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.