Eastern Africa Regional Integration Strategy Paper 2018 - 2022

The Bank Group Regional Integration Strategy Paper for Eastern Africa (EA RISP) 2018-2022 articulates strategic priorities and a corresponding indicative Operational program for the Bank’s support to regional economic integration in Eastern Africa. It has been prepared in the larger context of the Bank’s strategic direction and recent regional, continental and global developments. These developments include the adoption, in 2015, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), and the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) launched in Kigali, Rwanda in March 2018, to consolidate Africa’s market regimes. It also builds on the thrusts and orientation of the previous RISP (2011-2016) whose strategic pillars were Regional Infrastructure and Capacity Building. While implementing the previous RISP, the Bank has left a strong footprint in terms of financing regional integration in the Region. The completion report (CR) of the previous EA RISP notes that the Bank invested UA1.82 billion on regional operations by December 2016, of which UA1.678 billion supported the regional infrastructure pillar.