The World Trade Organisation is committed to addressing infrastructure development in Comesa countries so as to facilitate trade, an official has said.In an interview with The New Times, yesterday, Willie Chatsika, the Councellor of Institute for Training and technical cooperation at the World Trade Organisation, said there is a new project to be financed by the World Bank and other organisations to deal with infrastructure challenges in the member countries.“WTO acknowledges that infrastructural challenges hinder trade in all developing countries, especially African region, and we have the new plan that is trade facilitation initiative to facilitate trade among member,” he said.The official is in Kigali attending the regional conference on rules governing Regional Trade Agreements; and on Geneva Agreements on Trade in Services for Comesa member states.Chatsika, who spoke on the sidelines of the meeting, said the initiative, whose modalities are under negotiations, will look at facilitating the development of sea ports, railways, roads and customs processes in the region.However, he did not disclose how much will be involved.The meeting is attended by participants from Comesa.Poor infrastructureThe issue of poor infrastructure has always been regarded as the main barrier to the development of poor countries, as, among others, it leaves citizens paying more for imported goods and services.Rwanda is among the landlocked countries in EAC and Comesa experiencing transport bottlenecks. Imported goods that come through Mombasa port in Kenya and Dar port in Tanzania are transported by road, taking longer to reach Kigali.In East Africa, there is a plan to establish a regional railway line. The Rwanda-Tanzania-Burundi railway project would cost about $5.2 billion. The time it takes to transport cargo from Dar es Salaam to Kigali by rail will reduce to two days, compared to the current three to four days by road.Peace Basemera, a trade negotiator in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said being a member of WTO has benefited Rwanda a lot, adding that more negotiations are underway with Comesa.“We liberalised the market with WTO, meaning that any member is free to operate in Rwanda in sectors like education, tourism, health and hospitality,” she said.
