Friday, September 27, 2013

Kikwete chairs AU environment meeting



President Jakaya Kikwete and his wife Salma with US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during a banquet hosted on Tuesday in New York for heads of state and government attending the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly. PHOTO | COURTESY OF THE UN 
By  The Citizen Correspondent
In Summary
  • The meeting sought to find a common stand among African countries on a global environmental meeting to be held in Poland later this year.

New York. President Jakaya Kikwete on Tuesday chaired his first meeting as the chairman of the African Union Heads of State and Government on Climate Change.

The meeting was held at the AU’s Permanent Mission to the UN here, where the continental body has an observer status and was attended by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Deselengy and ministers from six other countries -- members of the committee.

The countries include Uganda, Algeria, Senegal, Swaziland, Mauritius and Congo-Brazzaville.
The meeting sought to find a common stand among African countries on a global environmental meeting to be held in Poland later this year.

President Kikwete, who is in the US to attend the 68th General Assembly meeting of the UN, was elected to chair the AU committee early this year after the position remained vacant following the death of former Ethiopian Premier, Meles Zenawi, in September last year. Meanwhile, President Kikwete has said there are plans to restructure the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited to increase efficiency in power supply in the country.
Speaking at a meeting with the delegation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) here on Wednesday he said the aim of his government was to increase electricity supply to reach 30 per cent of the population by 2015. Currently about 21 per cent of Tanzania access electricity, up from only about 10 per cent in 2005, President Kikwete told the delegation headed by MCC chief executive officer, Daniel W Yohannes. MCC offered Tanzania a grant of $698 million (Sh1.1 billion) for funding various infrastructure projects like electricity, roads, water and airports.

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