East African citizens will from March this year be able to access the East African Community (EAC) e-passports that will help ease their movement in the trading bloc, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The EAC’s senior official in charge of communication unit Richard Otieno disclosed this ahead of the 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit set for February 29 in Tanzania’s safari capital, Arusha.
Otieno said that the region’s leaders will launch the international EAC e-passports during the event.
The long awaited New Generation e-East African passport will be a major milestone towards achieving harmonization in the region.
The summit is also expected to deliberate on a report on the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC.
It will be preceded by a meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that will take place at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha on Feb. 22-27.
The EAC trading bloc includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania.
