Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has appointed the country’s former Central Bank Governor as the Presidential Special Envoy to the East African Community (EAC), as the country continues its push to join the bloc.
The Somalia presidency announced the appointment of Abdusalam Hadliyeh Omer on Sunday, about three weeks since President Mohamud participated, as a special guest, in the High-level Retreat on Common Market and 22nd Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State.
Somalia’s push comes just months after the Democratic Republic of Congo was admitted into the bloc as the seventh member.
The EAC’s mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration in order to improve the quality of life among member states through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments.
Somalia hopes to tap into these opportunities to propel its economic and social efforts on the back of years of insecurity.
Other than serving as a Central Bank Governor, Somalia’s new Presidential Special Envoy for the EAC, Omer, also served as Foreign Minister between 2015 and 2017.