DAR ES SALAAM, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Hussein Ali Mwinyi, president of Tanzania's Zanzibar, on Friday called for the establishment of an East African Community (EAC) petroleum development fund to develop the region's petroleum industry.
Closing a three-day 11th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2025 in Tanzania's port city of Dar es Salaam, Mwinyi said inadequate funding is a primary bottleneck to the development of the petroleum industry in the EAC region.
"With this fund in place, we will support our projects and invest in training, research, development, and innovation across the petroleum sector," he said.
Mwinyi said traditional financiers, on whom Africa has relied for decades, are withdrawing support, particularly in Africa, citing climate change concerns as the primary reason.
He said the EAC member states could learn from the African Petroleum Producers' Organization, which, in partnership with the African Export-Import Bank, established the Africa Energy Bank to address the impending funding crisis in the African oil and gas industry triggered by the global energy transition.
The EAC is a regional intergovernmental organization of eight member states -- Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda -- that aims to promote economic, political, and social integration in East Africa. ■
