Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta left the country early Saturday for Kigali, Rwanda to attend the 9th Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit.
A statement from Kenyatta’s officer said the summit, which to be attended by at least four Heads of State is aimed at assessing the implementation status of 14 projects launched under the the Northern Corridor Integration (NCI) .
The NCI framework involves four countries; Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan with Tanzania and Burundi coming in as observers.
“Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya came together in June 2013 not only as members of the East African Community (EAC), but also as countries of the Northern Corridor that links East Africa and Central Africa to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya,” the statement said.
Among the projects on the corridor include railway, electricity, oil pipeline and ICT aimed at easing the cost of doing business and boosting trade among partner states operating under the same Common Market Protocol.
The summit will be attended by presidents Kenyatta, host Paul Kagame, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir who will seek to fast-track implementation of the 14 projects launched under the Northern Corridor Infrastructural Projects framework.
Other programmes which have been implemented include the customs integration frameworks and single visas for tourists in the EAC.
Kenyatta and Kagame used their identity cards while travelling to Uganda to attend the 4th summit of the Northern Corridor integration projects.
Use of national IDs at the exit/entry points by the citizens of the three partner states creates a borderless region for quicker movement of goods and people, adding impetus to the momentum of the integration process. Enditem
Source:?Xinhua
