Rwanda has retained its position as an ideal host for businesses in the East African Community (EAC) by clinching the top position in the first ever business rankings conducted by the bloc’s Secretariat.

The report, dubbed "Doing Business in the East African Community 2011,” was launched Wednesday by the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Dr. Enos Bukuku.

The report prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank, draws data from the annual global Doing Business study.

A press release from the EAC indicates that the report takes a detailed look at business regulations in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

"We are serious about our role in the creation of an environment which is attractive to increasing private sector activity within and across our borders,” Bukuku stated during the launch.

"We can do this by further streamlining regulations affecting businesses and by ensuring that the business environment is reassuring to investors”.

The EAC Secretariat says that Rwanda, for the second year, retained its status as the leading country in the EAC in carrying out economic reforms, although all the other EAC partner states improved their performance since the year 2005.

"If each East African country was to adopt the region’s best practice for Doing Business Indicator, East Africa would rank 18th, bringing the Community closer to global top performers like Japan,” said Sabine Hertveldt, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist and co-author of the report.

The World Bank Director for Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, Mercy Tembon, urged partner states to enact legislations for the implementation of the Common Market protocol, saying: "Partner states should reduce costs of production, eliminate barriers to trade and harmonise all laws to improve the business climate”.

The World Bank annually publishes a "Doing Business Report” that measures a country’s business environment by assessing performance along 10 major indicators.

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