Author: EDWARD QORRO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) is now re-opening its doors to the world, after a three months hiatus following Covid-19 pandemic.
To start with, the ultra-modern conference facility will simultaneously, host the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meetings, in Dar es Salaam and Arusha later next month, Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi said here over the weekend.
Prof Kabudi, who was on a brief visit of the center which also runs the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC), in Dar es Salaam, pointed out that such meeting will be held, while adhering to Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), international standards.
“While the AICC successfully hosted SADC’s 39th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government in Dar es Salaam last year, this time round it will be taken a notch higher, per MICE standards in keeping the delegates safe,” disclosed the Minister.
According to Prof Kabudi, the AICC was no stranger in hosting such high profile meetings virtually, having done so in March this year during SADC Council of Ministers’ Meeting.
The Minister further revealed that the AICC had set a bar on conducting such conferences, with other convention centers in Africa forced to borrow a leaf from it.
The August meeting will see President John Magufuli, who is currently the chairman of the Regional Economic Community hand over the baton to his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.
Commenting on the prospects of the proposed Mt Kilimanjaro International Conference Center (MKICC), which will be built at Arusha’s Themi Hill Area, Prof Kabudi hinted that the state-of-the-art facility will embrace a greener architecture with restaurants, a hotel and a shopping mall that will make Tanzania an African leader in the rapidly growing meetings, conferences and events industry.
“The note paper for MKICC’s construction is already out, we are currently preparing detailed designs and mobilisation of funds,” he added.
On his part, AICC Managing Director, Mr Elishilia Kaaya pointed out that MICE standards were rolled out by standard operations procedures to cushion high profile meetings and conferences from the adverse effects of Covid-19.
Mr Kaaya insisted that such SOPs will be implemented in Tanzanian context to ensure that diplomats and other delegates remain safe throughout their meetings.
“We will be sensitive with the safety of delegates using our facilities, while also adhering to international and diplomatic standards,” he explained.
Commenting on the low occupancy rate experienced at AICC since the closure of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the relocation of the East African Community (EAC) Headquarters, Mr Kaaya said the center was currently wooing in potential tenants to fill in the vacant spaces in the state-owned facility.
Built in the 1970s as the headquarters for the short-lived East African Community inter-governmental body before its conversion to its present use, the AICC once hosted the ICTR until the latter wound up its activities in November 2015.
