A three-day Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) meeting between Rwanda and Uganda started in Kigali on Wednesday, March 22, aimed at discussing areas of trade and cooperation and especially reviving the Northern Corridor Integration Projects.

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The Commission is convening for the first time after more than 10 years. The two countries agreed to revive the Commission during a meeting between Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeje Odongo, and his Rwandan counterpart, Vincent Biruta, on September 1, 2022.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the eleventh JPC will assess the implementation status of the last session in addition to strategic areas of cooperation between the two countries.

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The Director General of Africa at the ministry, Shakilla Umutoni, told the meeting on Monday that the eleventh JPC is "a milestone in bilateral cooperation as it demonstrates the renewed commitment that both countries have embarked on to revive historical cooperation.”

The JPC started with technical sessions, a meeting of Permanent Secretaries and will be followed up with a ministerial meeting expected to discuss outcomes of the previous technical meetings.

A Rwanda-Uganda Business Forum will take place on Friday, March 24.

Prior to the eleventh JPC, delegations from the two countries held bilateral consultative meetings on March 20 and 21 to identify and agree on the major documents for the meeting.

Other pre-meetings between the two countries including the bilateral technical meeting on trade held on March 21, aimed at identifying opportunities and challenges faced by the business community in both countries.

At the opening of the eleventh JPC, Uganda’s Director for Regional and International Economic Cooperation, Elly Kamahungye, said: "We appreciate that the sides were able to discuss the best ways of resolving all issues and allow smooth flow of goods and services between our two sisterly states.”

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Northern Corridor projects

The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project which is supposed to connect the port of Mombasa to Kigali is one of the key projects that have stalled. In the past, regional leaders commended the implementation of a modern railway network in Kenya as part of the first phase of the SGR from Mombasa to Nairobi.

The preliminary engineering design of the new SGR line from Kampala to Kigali was completed in January 2018.