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.

A crucial milestone achieved was action to remove non-tariff barriers (NTBs).

Following the first EAC Investment Conference held in Kigali in June 2008, National Monitoring Committees for the elimination of NTBs were established.

Partner states on the Northern Corridor increased the number of working hours at border posts and plans are at advanced stages to have them operate around the clock in the near future.

It is clear that in the quest to make our region an investment destination of choice, we have to quickly, and in a more action-oriented manner, improve both our soft as well as hard infrastructures.

Transport of people and goods is an integral component of our integration — the Technical Committee has finalised the railways master plan and part of the funds for this critical venture will be available before the end of the year.

Security and peace are prerequisites for East African unity as demonstrated by the joint military exercises that the region’s armed forces undertook in September and October this year in Arusha and Tanga in Tanzania, and in Kitgum in Northern Uganda.

These exercises underline our resolve to collaborate not only in trade but also in defence and security.

We need to scale up this defence co-operation so as to assure the people of East Africa that our common security is a top priority and also that the EAC is real and moving in the right direction.

However, there are serious challenges that we need to confront in order to protect the gains we have made.

For example, newer forms of insecurity such as climate change are already wreaking havoc with the region’s water sources, agricultural and pasture land — affecting availability of food and decimating livestock, with grave consequences for East African citizens.

As we continue to make progress in the path to a strong, unified and prosperous community, it is important that we remain focused on our ambitious but achievable objectives.

We should learn from each other and from experiences elsewhere.

Sustainable integration will only be possible if we bring together effective economic, social and political systems and entrench these firmly in a unique but globally connected region.

Indeed, we will have succeeded when the people of East Africa see ourselves as a community of citizens and embrace the East African Community as our own.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was the Chairperson of the East African Community from June 2008 to November 2009