President Paul Kagame, yesterday, opened a regional investment forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, saying East Africa was a good bet for investors. 

The two-day conference, dubbed High Level Industry and Investors Forum, focused on enabling global investors to get an insight on investment opportunities through profitable infrastructure projects along the Corridor.

President Kagame called for leadership that focuses on coordination and results, according to a statement from the President’s office.

"For initiatives of this scale and importance, there is no substitute for engaged leadership.

Frequent consultations at the highest level will help drive focus and results and we will maintain and even strengthen this coordination mechanism,” he said.

"Political will needs to be translated into tangible results. The prosperity of East Africa demands it and together we can achieve it.”

President Kagame emphasised the importance of involving of all stakeholders to ensure that projects are mutually beneficial and profitable for all in the region.

"The projects that make up the Central Corridor are ambitious, but they are also economically sound. East Africa is a good bet, for investors, who have come to appreciate the good prospects, before everyone else does,” he said.

"We need to make sure that the views and interests of all stakeholders have not only been heard, but integrated and harmonised.”

Central Corridor railway launched

The Presidential High-Level Industry and Investors Forum was followed by flagging off block trains from the central railway line from Dar es Salaam to Rwanda’s border point.

A regional task force from all Central Corridor member States will be set up to coordinate the preparation of the selected 22 transnational priority infrastructure projects to be developed and implemented in phase one.

The Central Corridor is a multimodal trade and transport corridor which covers Tanzania, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

The project was launched during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, last year, and was identified as a programme for acceleration of investment through private sector participation among 51 projects under programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa-Priority Action Plan.

The next Presidential Round Table will be held in August.

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