President William Ruto on Tuesday, April 4, appeared to soften his position on the decree to revert the functions of the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (ICD) to Mombasa in a bid to woo business from Rwanda.
Speaking during a joint presser with President Paul Kagame in Kigali, Ruto asked him to consider using the port of Mombasa for imports and exports.
He noted that Rwanda can collect the containers from the Naivasha ICD.
"Mombasa is an important port for the People of Rwanda. We will continue to work on building that relationship and the network necessary for us to benefit from the synergy created by our two economies.
"This will help to save on time and cost, hence enhancing trade between the two countries,” Ruto reiterated.
The Head of State expressed hope to get Rwanda back on board as one of its clients four years after it ditched Mombasa for Dar es Salaam.
He explained that the government had put in the work to improve the efficiency of the port through expansion and modernisation of the facility.
In addition, he noted that the launch of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), provided railway transportation from the Mombasa port to Naivasha, a faster alternative to long-distance trailers.
In 2018, the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) revealed that 70 per cent of of the country's imports were through Tanzania in comparison to the 30 per cent from Kenya.
The RRA Deputy Customs Commissioner at the time Alex Mujeru attributed the shift to the lifting of non-tariff barriers along the Central Corridor, the route from Dar es Salaam to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mujeru reckoned that the route was shorter than the Northern Corridor that connects to the Mombasa Port. Moreso, new developments in the Dar port improved efficiency.
Uganda also shifted to Tanzania, citing the free and efficient movement of cargo.
