KIGALI, Rwanda – World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Sri Mulyani Indrawati was recently in Rwanda and advised relevant authorities to make cross-border trade more user-friendly and safe writes AGNES BATETA.

She was addressing a news conference recently at the conclusion of her a three day visit. She had talks with President Paul Kagame and toured various World Bank projects.

“To make trade more user-friend or trade friendly in this case, Rwanda needs to have accessibility to infrastructure. This calls for connectivity with the other EAC member states,” Indrawati said.

The East African Community (EAC) is composed of five member states including Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi. It is set on developing into a Common Market of around 165 million people worth $120 billion.

Indrawati said the efforts being made to upgrade both the Northern Corridor (that links Rwanda and Uganda through Kenya to Mombasa port) as well as the Central Corridor which links Rwanda to Burundi and Tanzania, are very useful.

“The roads and the railways that create more predictability and less cost on transportation is very critical for Rwanda in this case,” she said.

She cross-border infrastructure promotes regional integration, which is necessary for the EAC and the African continent to fully exploit existing potential.

The World Bank estimates $93 billion for infrastructure investment in Africa

“The need to create harmonization, whether this is on the customs, such as the one Customs Union which is already being implemented or initiated, will certainly require same capacity across borders on the Customs Union. The certainty about the collection and the services to deal with the trader or the flow of goods and services is very critical to Rwanda,”she said.

She said, “The flow of people is also very critical and this is why the initiative to create a much more free flow of people without creating any barrier whether this is through the passport agreement or ID agreement as well as even infrastructure such as telecommunication is going to be very critical.”

Source: East African Business Week

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