Rwandan President Paul Kagame travelled to Uganda using his National ID card, officially marking the launch of National IDs, voter/student cards as travel documents in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Citizens of the three countries will now get a six month visa upon arrival.
The President was in the country to attend the 4th Summit of the northern corridor integration projects in Entebbe together with President Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.
The summit is an initiative bringing together Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda to fast track regional development through regional infrastructure, trade and political and economic integration. Other countries expected to attend are Burundi, South Sudan and Tanzania.
At the inaugural Infrastructure Summit in Entebbe, Uganda in June 2013, leaders of Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda agreed to divide responsibilities: Uganda committed to lead the railway development and political federation sector; Rwanda on customs, single tourists and East African Community e-identity card; while Kenya took on the implementation of the oil pipeline and electricity generation.
The following summit was held in Mombasa, Kenya where the Heads of States attended the commissioning of Berth 19, a project anticipated to increase capacity of the Kenyan port to serve the entire region.
The 3rd Summit was held in Kigali on 20 October last year,where Heads of State welcomed South Sudan to the initiative and launched the single customs territory. With the establishment of a digital border post allowing electronic clearance, members of East African Community now spend 5 days instead of 18 days moving goods along the corridor from Mombasa to Kampala and 8 days instead of 21 days from Mombasa to Kigali.
