The Intergovernmental Authority for Development has adopted a treaty in which it will fully operate under a set of rules like other regional economic communities.
The treaty has replaced the agreement that gave birth to IGAD in 1996, effectively putting in place several changes, including its chairmanship which will now be predictable.
The chairpersonship will henceforth be on one year rotational basis, with member states assuming office in alphabetical order.
The rotation will be done at the assembly summit every 12th of June.
The treaty mandated the council with dispute resolution through negotiation.
Further, enclosed in the treaty is the power and process to impose sanctions.
It also established that every policy organ of IGAD will have a defined number of meetings per calendar year including quarterly, biannually and annually as applicable.
The treaty will enter into force after at least two-thirds of the members have signed the documents.
Eritrea took her membership seat of IGAD on Monday, which marked the 14th assembly and the first of its kind since 2019.
It emphasised the importance of promoting regional diplomacy and cooperation.
President William Ruto played a crucial role in championing the treaty.
This comes a day after Kenya and Djibouti signed four MoUs to strengthen ties between the two nations.
On Sunday, President Ruto said the MoUs touched on energy development, technical cooperation in development of youth affairs and arts, foreign service academy and on tourism.
The agreement on energy development entails sharing technical skills, information, documentation, knowledge and materials focusing on geothermal development.
Ruto lauded Djibouti President Ismail Omar for expediting the negotiation process and initiating the implementation of the proposed Hanle Garabbayyis project.
He said under the Hanle Garabbayyis project, the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (Kengen) will drill two geothermal wells in Djibouti.
"Kengen has fulfilled phase one of the contract with the Office Djiboutien De Development De Energie Geothermique (ODDEG) and successfully drilled one geothermal well in the Galla LeKoma project's initial phase," he noted.
Further, they signed an MoU on technical cooperation in the development of youth affairs and the arts.
This, Ruto said, will establish collaboration framework in the development of modern facilities in the fields of sports and art.
On mutual cooperation in the Foreign Service Academy, the presidents concluded that regular consultations and cooperation in the educational and scientific areas will be conducted within the framework of agreed programme activities.
The fourth agreement is on tourism. The collaboration is aimed at strengthening exchanges and partnerships between the two countries.
It will also promote sustainable tourism development and enhance tourism assets.
Ruto said they had made other agreements. The President committed to eliminating barriers imposed by visa requirements for Djibouti citizens travelling to Kenya.
It will help promote people-to-people interactions, and trade and investments.
"Therefore, Kenya has concluded necessary procedures to enable visa-free visits for citizens of Djibouti to Kenya," the President said.
Djibouti is seeking to integrate the English language into her curricula. To aid in this, Kenya will be sending English teachers to Djibouti.
Similarly, Kenyan students in technical and vocational education training institutions and medical training colleges will benefit from the inclusion of French language from Djibouti.
This, the President said, will help enhance the language proficiency of Kenyan graduates who seek employment abroad.
"We have further agreed to expedite the negotiation of a framework that enables the reciprocal recognition of certificates issued by our respective institutions of higher learning," Ruto said.
