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Uganda National Coordinator of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIPs), Ambassador Richard Kabonero has held talks with his Kenyan counterpart Abdi Dubat.

Dubat who is also Principal Secretary, of the State Department for the East African Community hosted Kabonero, at the office in Nairobi.

Dubat called the meeting to consult on several issues. These, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala include coordinated efforts of reviving the NCIPs, taking stock of the progress of implementation of the 14th Summit directives, convening pending NCIPs cluster meetings and reviewing the progress of implementation of the regional joint verification mechanism on status of the East Africa Tourism Visa (EATV) under the NCIPs Memorandum of Understanding.

The release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kampala adds that Kabonero and his host expressed satisfaction with the progress and commitment of the partner states in reviving the NCIPs by having different activities.

Ambassador Richard Kabonero during talks with his Kenyan counterpart Mr. Abdi Dubat. (Photo credit: Uganda High Commission, Nairobi)

These include convening several cluster meetings of the ICT and Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) chaired and coordinated by Uganda. 

Dubat commended Uganda for effectively coordinating and chairing the two cluster meetings and the continued engagement with the partner states on implementation of the Summit directives.

Mr. Abdi Dubat, Principal Secretary, State Department for East African Community. (Photo credit: Uganda High Commission, Nairobi)

Both coordinators agreed to convene related meetings in Kampala, next month in preparation for the 15th NCIPs Summit to be held later in the year. 

It was further agreed that partner states will exchange the internal reconciliation reports on the East Africa Tourism Visa ahead of the Regional Joint Verification meeting.

Senior officials from both countries who attended the meeting included Mr. Evans P. Aryabaha, Charge D'Affaires at the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi and Dr. Alice Yalla, Secretary for Integration at the State Department for EAC in Kenya.

At a glance

The Northern Corridor is the transport corridor linking the Great Lakes countries of Burundi, DR. Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa.

The corridor also serves Northern Tanzania, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia.

The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Agreement (NCTTA) was signed in 1985 and revised in 2007 for regional cooperation with a view of facilitating interstate and transit trade between the member states.

The Northern Corridor road networks cover approximately 12,707 Km in length distributed as follows: 567 Km in Burundi; 4,162 Km in DRC; 1,328.6 Km in Kenya, 1,039.4 Km in Rwanda; 3,543 Km in South Sudan and 2,072 Km in Uganda.