Tanzania to host regional bloc summitBy CHARLES OMONDI in Nairobi | Tuesday, November 30   2010 at  19:35

The East African Community’s 12th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania.

President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and current Chairman of the Summit, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda will attend the summit.

Among the items on the agenda is the consideration of the Annual Progress Report of the Council of Ministers and Report to the Heads of State on Food Security and Climate Change.

The change of chairmanship is also expected to take place during the summit. Chairmanship of the summits is on an annual basis and rotates among the partner states.

Prior to the 12th summit, the Heads of State will hold a one-day working Retreat on Food Security and Climate Change on Thursday.

Food security

Directors or commissioners of agriculture from each partner state are expected to make presentations on the current national situations on food security and climate change and their impacts.

The theme for the Retreat on Food Security and Climate Change is; EAC: Transforming Agriculture through Innovation.

Prof Calestous Juma of Harvard Kennedy School in the USA will take the Heads of State through the Agricultural Innovation in Africa.

Prof Nuhu Hatibu, CEO of Kilimo Trust, will highlight the regional perspective of food security, while Prof Laban A. Ogallo, the Director of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) will present on the climate change impacts in the region.

The chairperson of the summit is expected to launch a book entitled New Harvest- Agricultural Innovation in Africa by Prof. Juma.