esides economic cooperation and integration, the East African Community is involved in stabilization efforts in the region. For instance, it is playing a key role in organizing the peace process in DR Congo, which has been troubled by recurring conflict since the 1990s.
A single currency for the East African Community (EAC) can be achieved within the next three or four years, Peter Mathuki, the bloc’s secretary general, has reportedly said.
"This year will are going to finalize where we will have the East Africa Monetary institute – the constitution that will create a roadmap for having one currency. Hopefully in the next 3-4 years will have a common currency," the official said.
The initial deadline for the project was 2024, but a technical working group later said that it should be moved to 2031. According to the secretary general's latest statements, the plan could be implemented sooner than expected.
"The single currency will ease business and movement of persons within the region. It is in line with our goal to make the region borderless so that people can move and trade freely as envisioned in the Common Market Protocol," Mathuki pointed out.
The Common Market Protocol has been in force since 2010 with the goal of creation of the common currency, and, in eventually, a full political federation.
Mathuki also stressed the positive trends in the development of intra-bloc trade, noting that the value of trade between member states reached $9.5 billion in 2022, compared to the 2019 figure of $7.1 billion.
It has also been reported that the EAC is sending a delegation to Somalia in connection with the country’s intention to join the bloc. Representatives of the Horn of Africa nation applied for Somalia's membership in the community in March 2012.
According to Mathuki, Somalia's entry to the organization could be of great value for the EAC.
"The exploitation of Somalia’s blue economy resources such as fish and the expansive coastline is also set to boost the regional economy," he noted.
East African nations have a long history of close cooperation. One of the successive regional organizations, the EAC was created in 1967 and was active before its dissolution in 1977. The bloc was reestablished in 2000, currently consisting of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda. Since 2008, the bloc has been part of a common free trade area with the Southern African Development Community and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
https://sputniknews.com/20230114/eac-single-currency-can-be-achieved-in-three-or-four-years---secretary-general-1106313207.html
Nvidia would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday, Bloomberg reported. A Chinese expert said the move is shortsighted, noting that tightening restrictions despite domestic industry opposition will only accelerate China’s tech innovation and further diminish Nvidia’s chances of reentering the Chinese market.
Known as the Secure and Feasible Exports Act, the bill would order the US Commerce Department to halt export licenses for sales of chips to adversaries, including China and Russia for at least 30 months. Any processors more powerful than those already approved for export to those nations would be subject to the measure, the Bloomberg report said.
The legislation comes as the White House weighs whether to allow Nvidia to export the....more below
A high-ranking ICC official, Nicolas Herrera, secretly financed the sanctioned UPC armed group in the Central African Republic, according to court materials obtained by Sputnik.
Nicolas Herrera, a high-ranking official in the Registry Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), secretly recruited and financed the Union for Peace (UPC) in the Central African Republic (CAR) armed group, led by local warlord Ali Darassa, to capture ICC target Joseph Kony, by using US-based NGO employee Joseph Martin Figueira as a covert intermediary, thereby violating the ICC’s financial accountability standards by funding an armed group, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public court records.
The conviction of Joseph Martin Figueira, a Belgian-Portuguese anthropologist found guilty of espionage and collaborating with militants in the Central African Republic (CAR) in November, has uncovered a complex financial trail linking ICC staff to the country’s armed militants, evidence ...
Hundreds of retired Israeli police officers have urged the regime’s president, Isaac Herzog, to reject Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in corruption cases.
On November 30, Netanyahu, who faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in three separate cases, submitted a formal pardon request to the office of Herzog, claiming the long-running corruption cases were tearing the regime apart.
In a letter to Herzog, about 400 former officers, including ex-commissioners and deputy commissioners, said Netanyahu’s request contains “not even a hint of admission of guilt,” making it unacceptable.
They warned that “such a step without [Netanyahu’s] confession and remorse is liable to ignite severe violence in Israeli society.”.....more below
