Rwanda joined the East Africa Community (EAC) seven years ago, that decision has so far returned an inflow of investment valued around $100 million. Today, according to Innocent Safari, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of East Africa Community Affairs, more investments are flooding the market from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

As is usually the case with increased investments in local markets, more Rwandans have been employed; almost 2500. Also, some 400 companies from the regional member states have set up camp in Rwanda. This has raised tax revenues for the government and more opportunities to reduce unemployment. From financial services to agriculture, tourism to transportation and manufacturing, the biggest regional companies have invested in various sectors and significantly improved the economic outlook of the country.

Seeing these gains, the EAC is pushing for further integration. During the recent EAC week in Kigali last month, the ministry engaged stakeholders in sensitization campaigns geared at promoting integration awareness by showcasing the numerous opportunities within and the best ways to plug into the regional market.

“When you look at what we have achieved since we entered the community, it’s quite positive. We want to continue advocating for the removal of the existing non-tariff barriers to ease the free movement of goods and services,” Mr Safari said.

This upward trajectory can be sustained by easing the movement of people across the countries in the region by use of National identity cards, student identity cards and other authorized travel documents among the three countries; this is sure to boost cross-border trade and promote investments.

Rwanda is more competitive today than at any other time in its history, and this is a fact endorsed by the World Economic Forum. It has also moved up tremendously on the “ease of doing business” scale. By eliminating Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs) in the form of roadblocks, weighbridges and other bottlenecks, there has been an 81 percent reduction in the number of days taken to transport cargo containers from the Mombasa port in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali; the obvious end result has been trade competitiveness and reduced prices.

Also, to ensure minimal disruptions in the supply chain, the country extended the working hours at different borders in order to attract more trading through the free flowing chain of goods and services. The Gatuna border between Rwanda and Uganda now operates a 24-hour schedule while the Rusumo border with Tanzania sees active officials for 16 hours every day. Other borders hover between 16 hours to 18 hours of active work.

Rwanda’s testimony is a clear demonstration of the economic impacts arising from regional integration, and a reason for other regions to activate their respective unions and do more business together.

By Emmanuel Iruobe

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