Agriculture will now be placed as number one engine of economic growth in the East African Community (EAC) integration process. [...] "The Compact is designed to facilitate coordination of regional and cross cutting programmes that complement agricultural programmes and projects at national and regional levels," said the EAC deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors) Christophe Bazivamo.

The other key sphere of concern in Ethiopia's HDR is sustainable development which contains a selection of 15 key indicators that cover environmental, economic and social aspects. Environmental sustainability indicators are basically related to renewable energy consumption, carbon-dioxide emissions, change in forest area and fresh water withdrawals by which Ethiopia has shown a remarkable leap.

Uganda is paying the price of having an open refugee policy that has attracted thousands of refugees from neighbouring countries. The east African country has the biggest Refugee Settlement in the world, [...] Once a refugee arrives in Uganda and goes through the necessary documentations, he or she is allocated a piece of land where they can cultivate their own food instead of entirely depending on relief especially in the face of dwindling financial support to humanitarian agencies.

The ongoing public diplomacy efforts aimed to promote the positive outcomes of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) are serving the intended purposes. [...] the deputy premier noted as the visits of public diplomacy delegations of Ethiopia helped clear previously held doubts. Various high ranking officials, resident ambassadors and members of the diaspora also paid visits to the project site, Demeke said, adding it drew favourable results regarding Dam's benefits.

Mauritius and Norway will further collaborate to strengthen existing ties and expand bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest. This was at the fore of discussions this afternoon during a courtesy call by the Ambassador of Norway to Mauritius with residence in Maputo, Mozambique, Ms Anne Lene Dale, on the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.

British foreign minister Boris Johnson met Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Wednesday, pledging aid to help combat the effects of a devastating drought, the Somali president's office said. [...] A statement from the Somali president's office said Britain would give 110 million pounds ($134.35 million) for drought in some parts of Somalia.

Johnson & Johnson’s office in Kenya will help coordinate the company’s global public health capabilities and resources to deliver sustainable, measurable impact against significant public health needs in the region. The team in Kenya will translate the company’s strategy into locally-executable programs that drive health impact in collaboration with local health delivery partners. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday confirmed that his country had launched an aid campaign to help four East African countries currently hit by an acute drought. According to Erdogan, Turkey’s effort was aimed at helping Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, all of who are "at risk of suffering a major humanitarian crisis." "We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to requests for help from those countries where the drought-related hunger has reached critical levels," he said in a tweet.