Rwandan President Paul Kagame has taken over the leadership of the East African Community (EAC) at a Heads of State Summit held in the Tanzanian city of Arusha.
Mr Kagame, who takes over from his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, assumed the position during the 20th Summit of the EAC Heads of State on Friday.
President Kagame called on all East Africans to ensure that the community works for the common good.
He said the EAC is a people-centred institution and its success will be measured by the number of people benefiting from its programmes.
President Kagame said his focus will be to enhance manufacturing, infrastructure development, improving healthcare provision and strengthening security systems to deal with cross-border security threats, especially terrorism and violent extremism.
On his part, President Museveni said the EAC has made tremendous progress towards improving regional economies.
But it has to dedicate more efforts towards reducing the cost of electricity, increasing connectivity through road and rail networks, and tackling the high cost of project financing.
EAC Secretary-General Libérat Mfumukeko applauded the outgoing chairperson for his leadership and observed that as the organisation celebrates 20 years since its revival, it has made tremendous progress in the delivery of key regional projects.