Kagame in Tanzania for Magufuli swearing in Ceremony
President Paul Kagame (right) former Presidents of Tanzania Ali Hassan Mwinyi (gray hair Centre) and Benjamin William Mkapa (Left) in the Thursday’s ceremony
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is in Tanzania’s Major city Dar-es-Salaam attending the swearing in ceremony of the New President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli this Thursday.
President-elect Magufuli from Tanzania’s CCM party, was on October 29 announced the winner and certified after a tightly- race in which he won with 58.46% votes.
His immediate challenger Edward Ngoyai Lowasa from CHADEMA party which had formed a coalition with three other opposition parties in the East African nation, got 39.47%.
President Kagame joined his East African Community counterparts, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, as well as some other African presidents.
Rwanda, a member of East African Community, expects to foster its relations with Tanzania, which mainly centers on trade and infrastructure partnerships.
The port of Dar-es-Salaam is crucial for Rwanda’s trade routes, accounting for roughly 70% of all Rwandan international maritime trade.
The port handles 60% of Rwanda’s exports and imports, making it a key port in terms of handling Rwandan cargo, according to the Ministry of Trade.
Rwanda regards Tanzania’s central corridor which combines road and railway network, as an essential trade and transport route linking it with neighbouring Burundi, Uganda and the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo.
In March 2015, President Kagame travelled to Tanzania’s Commercial City Dar es Salaam for the Central Corridor Presidents’ summit, where several projects were committed to facilitated trade within member countries.
Some of the projects and policies agreed on include, among others, reducing transit time spent from Dar-es-Salaam to Kigali from 10 to between 3-6 days and harmonizing Rwanda- Tanzania road tolls to $152 from $500 save traders on both sides from high costs.
