Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
On Thursday, Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared the removal of visa constraints for any Africans desiring to travel to the Central African country.
With this move, Rwanda becomes the fourth African nation to take this step.
“Let there be no mistake about it. Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish and will not pay a thing to enter our country,” President Kagame said in Kigalki when he pitched the potential of Africa as “a unified tourism destination”
Over the years, numerous African leaders have considered the concept of unrestricted citizen movement throughout the continent, some even championing the notion of a unified, single African passport.
The late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a prominent advocate for the free movement of people and services.
In his inauguration speech in 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya took a significant measure by declaring that the tourism hub would start offering visas upon arrival to all African visitors.
“The freer we are to travel and live with one another, the more integrated and appreciative of our diversity we will become,” Kenyatta said.
Rwanda has actively pursued an initiative to enhance its tourism industry, collaborating with European football clubs such as Arsenal and Bayern Munich to promote the nation as an attractive tourist spot.
According to President Kagame, “We should not lose sight of our own continental market.”
“Africans are the future of global tourism as our middle class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come.”
The African Union has hailed the decision of Rwanda and Kenya to improve free trade across the continent.
“I urge all African states that have not yet done so to take similar measures,” AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Twitter after Kenya’s announcement,” AU said.
Mahamat informed African Union trade ministers on Friday that intra-African trade stands at only 16 percent, whereas trade among European Union member states reaches 70 percent.
A number of African nations have also forged bilateral agreements allowing for visa-free travel, with the most recent examples being Ghana and South Africa, as well as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.