A strong East African Union is in sight; 130m people are watching

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the revival of the East African Treaty, 130 million East Africans are watching closely and judging every step.

They know and understand the benefits from the coming together of nations united by history, culture and trade.

There can be no doubt that a new era is dawning for our region.

We now have a historic opportunity to create a new, prosperous East Africa that lifts our people out of poverty.

Together, our countries can more effectively tackle our common challenges than we can as individual nations.

It will take courage and compromise from East Africa’s leaders – the road ahead will be challenging, but rewards in terms of prosperity for our people are even greater.

We have made considerable progress in the past 10 years since the EAC recommitted to regional integration.

As a new member state, it has been exciting for Rwanda to be part of the positive developments during this past year, and with the co-operation and support of fellow East African nations, our community has managed to achieve significant milestones.

We began the implementation of the EAC Customs Union on July 1 this year with the accession of Rwanda and Burundi.

This means progressive removal of internal tariffs on goods from EAC partner states and the application of the Common External Tariff on goods from non-EAC Countries. Since we committed to the Customs Union, trade within the region has grown significantly.

We accelerated consultations leading up to the creation of a Common Market, which has become a reality with the formal signing of the Common Market Protocol.

This will allow free flow of goods, services, persons and labour; edging us ever closer to our overall objective.

As our citizens begin to freely cross borders, work and settle in any of the five member nations, it is clear that an East African Community is no longer a far-fetched dream but a reality.

Preparations for the establishment of a Monetary Union continue to gather pace.

Central banks from partner states are working together on this important pillar of our regional integration agenda.