EABC advocates harmonisation of charges at borders

EABC advocates harmonisation of charges at borders

What you need to know:

  • The East African Business Council (EABC) is calling for harmonisation of inspection charges at the Rusumo border post between Tanzania and Rwanda.

Arusha. The East African Business Council (EABC) is calling for harmonisation of inspection charges at the Rusumo border post between Tanzania and Rwanda.

The apex body of private sector associations and corporates maintains the fee by the trade facilitation agencies hiked the cost of doing business.

Currently each truck entering Rwanda is levied as facilitation fees for accommodation and refreshments for truck drivers in Covid-19 isolation centres.

“This is likely to adversely affect the cost of doing business,” said EABC executive director Peter Mathuki after Monday’s visit by the council’s officials there.

Instead, he suggested use of the existing Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring which was set to replace testing of Covid-19 at the border points. The one-day visit at the Rusumo One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) was aimed at seeking sustainable solutions to hurdles hampering intra-regional trade.

A team of business sector officials under the auspices of EABC held talks with members of the Joint Border Management Committee overseeing the flow of trade.

The business community specifically called for harmonisation and reduction of quality inspection fees charged on goods by the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority.

In addition, they insisted on fast-tracking the issuance of chemical permits by the Tanzanian authorities so as to reduce transit time at the site.

The meeting appealed to all the East African Community (EAC) partner states to expedite harmonisation on issuance, recognition and use of national IDs as travel documents.
According to business sources, the Rusumo OSBP accounts for over 80 percent of imports into Rwanda from the port of Dar es Salaam.

The border post was processing about 400 lorries daily before the EA region recorded the Covid-19 cases, leading to travel restrictions.

The figure has now dropped to 235 trucks daily, but still significant for the route linking not only the Dar port with Rwanda but also with other land-locked states.

Mr Mathuki also appealed for the establishment of a Joint Cross Border market between the two countries; Tanzania and Rwanda.

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By Zephania Ubwani @TheCitizenTZ [email protected]