The 4th Ministerial Council Meeting of the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia (LAPSSET) Corridor Development Program was held in Lamu, Kenya, with representatives from Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan in attendance. The meeting was also graced by the presence of Stephen Karingi, Director of the Regional Integration and Trade Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The meeting marked significant progress in the implementation of the LAPSSET Corridor Development Program, a regional infrastructure project aimed at connecting the three countries through a network of ports, highways, railways, pipelines, airports, and resort cities.

Stephen Karingi, speaking on behalf of the United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), emphasized the importance of the LAPSSET Corridor in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries.

Karingi urged the three countries to prioritize the closing of missing infrastructure links in the LAPSSET Corridor, advance the priority value chains identified for development along the economic corridor with a regional lens, and put in place a regional coordination framework to sustain the momentum of the project.