The adjustments brought about by single customs territory, which became operational beginning January, have led to a 38 per cent increase in Rwanda’s exports to the East African Community member countries.

Previously, it would take 21 days to move a container from the port of Mombasa in Kenya to Kigali, but after implementation of the single customs territory the time has been cut down to five days.

However, besides facilitating the clearance of merchandise from the Mombasa Port, the customs territory has also eased trade between the partner states because of the removal of barriers to trade.

Less time nowadays

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza, the minister for East African Community affairs, said the change in the time taken has been reflected in the number of trips that the trucks are able to make.

"Businesses are now able to make more money without necessarily investing more. We are also seeing the impact on the volume of Rwandan exports to the EAC region,” Amb. Rugwabiza said.

The minister said as a result Rwanda had increased it exports to the region drastically going by the numbers registered in the first semester of the year.

"Compared between exports to the EAC region of the first semester of last year and this year’s first semester, there is an increase of about 38 per cent. We used to export goods worth about $70 million to the EAC which has now risen to about $98 million,” the minister said.

This is one of the benefits of the single customs territory in one single corridor.

Another impact she noted was that the progress had stirred improvement at the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to reduce the clearance time for containers. 

This she said was important because part of the country’s important trade is through the Central Corridor.

Checking emerging barriers

However, the minister noted that as barriers were being eradicated, it was important to monitor closely to identify new ones that could be emerging as a result of adjustments made.

She noted that it was not enough to implement, the implementation should be followed by monitoring to ensure effectiveness of new initiatives.

The implementation of the single customs territory was initially launched between Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya before it is fully rolled out in the entire bloc and among others, both Rwanda and Kenya now have customs agents established at the Mombasa Port who clear goods destined for either country to remove unnecessary delays.

Click here for the full interview