NAIROBI, KENYA: Tanzania was not represented in a
single visa deal that was jointly announced on Tuesday during the
ongoing World Tourism Market meeting in United Kingdom
.
Rwanda,
Kenya, and
Uganda
were repesented during the
deal which is set to come in force by
January next year. Through the single travel document, member country
states will adopt a joint Visa to facilitate free movement of tourist
and citizens alike.
“Other EAC members will join us along the way since we have not locked any one out, said
Kenya’s
Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Mrs.
Phylis Kandie while responding to the press questions on the absence of
Tanzania in the deal.
Tanzania is a competing country in Tourism
and other economic pillars in the region. The country’s absence in key
EAC meetings bringing together heads of states continues to raise
eyebrows as per the regional intergration.
Tanzania’s minister for
EAC Affairs, Samuel Sitta, recently told a charged Parliament in Dodoma
that Dar es Salaam would not wait for a “divorce certificate” from
Kenya,
Rwanda and
Uganda, but would “shoot before we are shot”.
The minister spoke on the same day Presidents Uhuru, Kagame, Museveni
and Kiir signed a host of protocols and agreements in Kigali, including
free movement of goods and persons, infrastructural development and
transformation into a Single Customs Union.
The pacts were signed
on the sidelines of the three-day “Transform Africa Summit” to which
Tanzania and Burundi, both EAC member states were not invited.
Speaking after announcing the launch of the joint visa,
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism Mrs. Phylis Kandie,
Uganda’s Tourism and Wildlife Minister Ms Agnes Egunyo and
Rwanda’s High Commissioner to UK Ambassador William Nkurunziza said deal was a major boost to tourism.
“We
have been in discussion over this matter for the last six months and we
are proud to announce that we finally have a joint visa that has made
the three countries borderless. This is an opportunity for us to
increase tourist numbers as we will jointly offer diversified tourism
products,” Says Kandie.
Tourism products from the three countries,
pointed Kandie are varied and with different tastes and noted that the
single joint visa will now enrich diversity at the same time increasing
the value of the product.
Rwanda
High commissioner noted that the single joint visa was cost effective
and will boost the strategy of repositioning tourism products in the
region.
