One-stop border posts to open in April

Five one-stop border posts constructed at country’s major border points will be opened in April, officials said. They include Kagitumba and Cyanika border posts with Uganda; Nemba and Ruhwa border posts with Burundi; and Rusumo border post with Tanzania. The facilities are expected to support efficient business transactions by reducing clearance times by up to 40 per cent. “All the border posts and others will be operational by April to ease cross-border services where a passenger will stop once and get all services within 15 minutes. Workers will get opportunity to serve many customers,” Raphael Tugirumuremyi, deputy commissioner in charge of Customs, said. Tugirumuremyi was speaking at an event to mark World Customs Day in Kigali, last Friday, under the theme “Coordinated border management and inclusive to connect all stake holders.” World Customs Day is marked January 26. At each border, Tugirumuremyi said, there is a committee comprising of officials from the two countries that meet every month to assess challenges on the border. The official also highlighted the importance of the Electronic Single Window System in enhancing trade. The system, launched in 2012, takes less time to process and handle information between different stakeholders involved to clear goods. The system is a web page that links government clearing agencies and traders. By June, he said, Rwanda electronic cargo tracking system will be mounted on trucks carryign goods along the Kigali-Mombasa route Richard Tusabe, the commissioner-general of Rwanda Revenue Authority, said there has been progress in putting in place necessary infrastructure to improve cross border transactions.

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One-stop border posts to open in April