Rwandan engineers have welcomed the admission of the Rwanda Institution of Engineers to the regional professional body, which now expands their market reach to four countries in the East African Community.

The local engineers’ body yesterday signed the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) which implies that Rwanda trained engineers can be able to ply their trade in all EAC partner states, apart from Burundi that has not yet accented.

This agreement was first signed between Boards of Engineers from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 2012.

The signing took place in Arusha, Tanzania, yesterday afternoon.

Shortly after putting pen to paper, Dismas Nkubana, the Chairperson of the Rwanda Engineering Council, told The New Times that he was "very happy and grateful.”

Rwandan engineers’ success comes after they managed to put in place all professional regulatory requirements as recommended by the regional body.

"We were ready since November 2013 but we were only delayed. We are happy that justice has been served.

We could not sign initially because we had no legal structure in place but when we complied, the EAC delayed us,” Nkubana said.

According to the current Chairperson of the EAC Federation of Engineers, Tanzanian Steven Mlote, Rwanda has fulfilled all professional regulatory requirements to accede to the MRA as reported by a team of assessors from Boards of Engineers from EAC Partner States.

An MRA is a legal instrument signed between similar professional associations originating from different countries, to enable a professional from a home country to be automatically recognized and allowed to practice as a professional in a host country.

A statement by the Ministry of EAC Affairs in Kigali indicates that any professional qualification issued in the home country becomes automatically recognised in the host country.

Accordingly, EAC Partner States understand that to facilitate cross border professional practice, MRAs must be concluded as envisaged by the EAC Common Market Protocol.

"Conclusion of MRAs in the EAC shall enable consumers to benefit from a larger choice of services, while also building competitiveness amongst those very services,” reads part of the statement.

"In addition, institutions in EAC Partner States will have an opportunity to learn from each other and exchange regulatory and policy experience.”

The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the meeting by the East African Business Council leaders’ summit, which was being held ahead of the Heads of State Summit, which will be held today.

The regional business leaders’ meeting was held under the theme; "Enhancing the Role of the Private Sector as Driver of the EAC Integration Process.”

editorial@newtimes.co.rw