Over 1,000 Artisans To Participate In 22nd EAC Trade Fair

DAR ES SALAAM, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Oct, 2022 ) :More than 1,000 artisans are set to participate in the 22nd edition of the East African Community (EAC) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Trade Fair in the Ugandan capital of Kampala in December, the EAC said in a statement.

The statement issued late Thursday by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania's northern region of Arusha said the trade fair, which will be held under the theme "Buy East African to Build East Africa for Resilience and Sustainable Development," will run from Dec. 8-18 at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala.

According to the statement, the main objective of the trade fair is to contribute toward the realization of the region's development goals and aspirations by lending support to this budding sector of the economy, which needs public patronage and government support in order to be sustainable.

The trade fair will create a considerable impact on the image of the sector, which is today seen as the panacea to the daunting question of unemployment and poverty alleviation in the region, said the statement.

The statement said the first EAC MSMEs Trade Fair was held in Arusha in 1999 during the historic event of the signing of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.

Subsequent to the success of the Arusha trade fair, the EAC heads of state directed that the trade fair be held annually on a rotational basis among the EAC members so as to enhance and revamp the socioeconomic integration of the people of East Africa, said the statement.

The EAC members are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.