East Africa Community lawyers and dons to get training on extractive sector law formulation

The East African Development Bank will from next week train senior policy makers in the East African Community in the extractive sector  with the aim of improving the negotiation and policy making skills.

The need for such legislation has arisen following oil and gas finds in the region and the need to have policies in place that can help the member states get benefits from the resources.

The training that will take place in Kigali mostly targets senior government lawyers and law dons involved in negotiations and policy formulation.

EADB in a statement says the public sector lawyers and law professors will benefit from training from eight senior corporate transactional lawyers working with global law firm DLA Piper and nonprofit affiliate New Perimeter.

“The fundamental question we must ask, going by the experiences of other resource-rich regions in Africa, is whether the region will benefit from these resources. Can East Africa ensure the newly found resources are converted into tangible wealth for its people, current and future generations?” said EADB Director General, Vivienne Yeda.

Other topics to be covered include project finance, extractive industry agreements, and public-private partnerships.

“We will be using experiential and collaborative training methods to provide practical skills applicable to structuring these transactions in a manner beneficial to the host country,” says DLA Piper Partner, Jay Finkelstein.

EADB says the training will above all assist EAC member states reduce the risk of costly or politically complicated dispute resolution at later stages and ensure that host countries achieve tangible benefits from their natural resources as the region enters a period of ‘economic tipping point.’.

“it is extremely rewarding and a privilege for us to work and share knowledge with senior government lawyers from across the East African Community – lawyers that are and will be spearheading efforts to negotiate good solutions and productive foreign investments for their respective governments.  EADB’s work in facilitating this seminar is admirable.” Said DLA Piper Partner, Fredrik Lindblom.