Mr Odinga pointed out that the region was part of a globalised World, noting that its development and prosperity are intimately tied up with those of near and not so near neighbours particularly in the promotion of trade and investment.
“We must therefore treat coherence as of prime importance in the context of regional integration objectives, as well as for strong development of the region as a whole,” he said.
The Prime Minister was speaking last week at Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi when he launched the National Steering Committee on Regional Integration.
Raila said the steering committee and a task force would address challenging political decisions to achieve convergence in the wider monetary union envisaged for Eastern and Southern Africa.
He however expressed confidence that the committee will successfully manage critical government interdependencies to foster development of the regional integration framework.
The PM emphasized the importance of information sharing among government departments saying it was unfortunate that some Ministries kept vital information to themselves regarding important agreements they had entered into with international partners.
He said such important information should be shared so as to make them more workable and avoid a situation where the left hand did not know what the right hand is doing.
The PM went on to say that the global economy was recovering from the severe downturn adding regional economies must develop optimal strategies to sustain that recovery.
The steering committee brings together Permanent Secretaries or chief executives of the institutions represented in the task force and will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the office of the Prime Minister.
Permanent secretaries of Foreign affairs, Trade and East African Community Ministries will be co-chairs.
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