The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of East African Affairs, Robert Ssali, has said that Rwandans still lack enough knowledge on the benefits of regional integration.

"Rwandans have heard about regional integration, but all they know is that Rwanda joined the East African Community; there is still a lot they don’t know about regional integration,” said Ssali.

He added that the ministry is currently organising sensitisation programmes to boost its information dissemination regarding regional integration.

In a related development, the Ministry is expected to award 24 negotiators of the Common Market and according to Ssali, 12 other members of the National Consultative Committee will also be awarded.

"These people did a great job, it wasn’t such an easy task to negotiate that kind of an agreement in the period it took ; it is actually the first of its kind worldwide that has taken this short period,” Ssali said.

The common market negotiations took over two years.
Ssali also pointed out that during the awarding ceremony, several local media outlets that include The New Times Publications, will be recognised for their role in creating public awareness about the community.

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