The issue of trade barriers in the East African Community (EAC) could soon be history based on the effort that the region’s leaders are investing on it. The focus is now on removing Non-Tariff Barriers on the so-called Central Corridor to ease the free movement of goods and services in the community. And there is a bonus.

The initiative on the Central Corridor has brought Tanzania and Rwanda closer. It is a departure from when Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya came together to fast track the integration projects and speculation swarmed that they were moving to sideline other member countries especially Tanzania and Burundi.

Presidents Paul Kagame, the Tanzanian President Kikwete, and Burundian leader Pierre Nkurunziza and other top government officials from the region on March 26 attended the first ever Central Corridor heads of state meeting in Dar es Salaam.

The Central Corridor gateway is a highway that connects the landlocked countries of Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, and Uganda from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania through Dodoma to Kigali in Rwanda, Bujumbura in Burundi. It also connects to Mutukula in Uganda. It is the second major route in the region and is considered as a heart for Rwandan imports and exports as 60 percent of Rwandan goods go through the port of Dar es Salaam.

President Kagame while addressing the forum reiterated the political will as the only required mantle to have the region move forward. “For initiatives of this scale and importance, there is no substitute for engaged leadership. Frequent consultations at the highest level will help drive focus and results and we will maintain and even strengthen this coordination mechanism. Political will, needs to be translated into tangible results. The prosperity of East Africa demands it and together we can achieve it,” he said. The head of a state further stated that it was imperative for the involvement of all the stakeholders in ensuring a regional growth by increasing investments through public-private partnership.

“This is about mutually beneficial and profitable investments, for all stakeholders involved, whether public and private. No investment is risk-free. And all the positive trends, and goodwill, in the world, do not guarantee success. We need to set the agenda, communicate it and build the mutually-beneficial public-private partnerships to get things done,” Kagame said.

The Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete pledged to ensure the efficiency at the port; including effective clearance of goods destined to landlocked countries.

He observed that integration was the only way to move the community forward and added that it is vital for member countries to fight existing trade barriers that hamper trade and investment in the region.

“The best and easiest way to realise continental unity and integration, in Africa, is through regional integration as building blocks. A divided East Africa will not be able to claim its rightful place and earn respect in the family of nations in Africa and the world,” he said.

This is seen as a historical move by heads of state in the region with so far the commitment shown yielding positive results especially on Northern corridor.

“We have been suffering with corrupt officials along the central corridor asking for bribes, insecurity has also negatively impacted us but with the new commitment by heads of state I think it will be an opportunity for goods to sail freely on this corridor,” says Issa Mugarura, a truck driver and the vice-president of Rwanda Long Distance Drivers Union (ACPLRWA).

Kagame who was the guest speaker at the presidential High-Level Industry and Investors Forum later flagged off block trains from the central railway line that would run from Dar es Salaam to Kigali.

It’s reported that in 2014 about 630,000 metric tonnes of cargo destined to Rwanda passed through the Dar es Salaam Port, which is higher than 235,000 metric tonnes of cargo destined to Rwanda that passed through the Dar es Salaam port in the previous year. The East African Community (EAC), which groups the five countries, said in a 2015-2025 strategy document it needs between $68 billion and $100 billion over the next decade to build roads, ports, railways, transmission lines and oil and gas infrastructure.

Already, some joint programmes; including the use of Identify cards to move, the Single Tourist Visa, and removal of roaming charges to access communication, appear to be paying off.

Other projects include the Mombasa-Kigali Standard Gauge railway that is envisaged to be operating by 2018 and Dar railway line connecting to Kigali. They are likely to ease the transportation of goods and lower prices.

It was agreed that a regional taskforce comprising officials from all Central Corridor member states will be set up to coordinate the preparation of the selected 22 transnational priority infrastructure projects to be developed and implemented in phase one.

The project was launched during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, last year, and was identified as a programme for acceleration of investment through private sector participation among 51 projects under programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa-Priority Action Plan. The Central Corridor is the nearest route to Rwanda and is about 1,700 kilometres long, extending from Bujumbura through Kigali to the coastline at Dar es Salaam port. The Northern Corridor, which is about 1,900 kilometres, and stretches from Bujumbura through Kigali, Kampala and Nairobi to the port of Mombasa. It takes three days for the cargo truck to land in Kigali from Dar port while in Mombasa it spends five days.

The next Presidential Round Table will be held in August. This is similar to the Northern Corridor where officials convene every three months to assess the progress in implementing the decisions taken by heads of state. With both corridors now operating smoothly, it is hoped there will be a positive impact on the economies in the region; especially the landlocked countries like Rwanda.