President Paul Kagame on Thursday, April 27, arrived in Tanzania for a two-day state visit, aimed at cementing bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries. The visit is a reciprocal gesture to a similar one made by his counterpart back in August 2021. Tanzania is by all means a key partner for Rwanda. Figures show that Rwanda’s inbound and outbound commodities go through the Central Corridor, which connects the country to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Besides this, on bilateral level, Tanzania is increasingly becoming Rwanda’s major trading partner. Figures from 2021 indicate that Tanzania’s exports to Rwanda increased four-fold to $278, up from $60 million. On the other hand, Rwanda’s exports to Tanzania doubled to $2.2 million up from $1.3 million over the same period, while a number of Tanzanian firms have over the year increased their presence in Rwanda. As the two heads of state and their delegations meet therefore, Rwandans will be waiting on the outcomes of their engagements because the resolutions of these talks directly impact on their lives. Key issues that many Rwandans, especially those in the logistics business, include the ironing out of any remaining non-tariff barriers, be it under bilateral or multilateral framework – especially through the East African Community to which both countries belong. However, what is perhaps the elephant in the room is the long overdue rail line connecting both countries and others in the neighbourhood, which is expected to revulutionalise the logistics business. Once implemented, the Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali rail line will greatly impact the freight transport business and will significantly contribute towards the country’s ambition of leveraging its central location to become a regional trade hub. Rwandans will therefore eagerly wait for the guidance from the two heads of state regarding the future of this strategic infrastructure project that also includes Burundi and later other countries in the region.
