President Kagame to attend 5th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit

Nairobi, 1 May 2014

President Kagame arrived in Nairobi to attend the 5th Northern Corridor Integration Projects summit. The summit hosted by President Kenyatta will bring together President Kagame, President Museveni and President Salva Kiir for a one day discussion on the progress of the projects agreed upon during previous summits.

The Northern Corridor Integration Projects is an initiative aimed at fast tracking regional development through regional infrastructure, trade and political and economic integration.

The meeting will begin with the launch of the Kenya National Electronic Single Window System, aimed at “simplifying trade processes for regional competitiveness.” The system centralizes trade services such as tracking of goods, custom clearance, electronic payment including through mobile money and integration with Kenya Revenue Authority.

The launch will be followed by a discussion on the respective countries projects.

The projects spearheaded by Rwanda include the use of National ID as travel documents, launched during the 4th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit in February. Rwanda is also leading on the implementation of the single tourist visa, the establishment of single customs territory, defense and security cooperation, air space management and connectivity. Projects headed by Kenya and Uganda include construction of the railway, oil pipeline and refinery and electricity generation.

The inaugural summit of northern corridor nations was held in Entebbe in June 2013, bringing together Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. The second summit was held in Mombasa and marked by the commissioning of Berth 19, a project anticipated to increase capacity of the Kenyan port to serve the entire region.

The 3rd Summit which welcomed South Sudan to the initiative was held in Kigali on20 October 2013 and launched the single customsterritory. This digital border post now allows electronic clearance reducing number of days from 18 to 5 days to move goods along the corridor from Mombasa to Kampala and from 21 days to 8 days from Mombasa to Kigali.