The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide the East African Community (EAC) a five-year $194 million facility to foster economic integration and free movement of people and goods in the region.

The agreement for the facility was signed on November 17 at EAC's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, by the US embassy Charge d'Affaires in Tanzania, Virginia Blazer, the head of USAID’s mission to Kenya, Karen Freeman, and EAC's secretary general, Liberaït Mfumukeko.

Out of the $194 million facility, around $30 million will be used for institutional strengthening within EAC's secretariat while remainder will “support other development partners in their efforts to contribute to EAC's regional integration programme”.

The United States have decided to help improve access to health services in the neighbour-countries of the East African community while helping them better manage natural resources from the ecosystems of Lake Victoria's basin and those of the Mara river as well.