Kigali, 20th August, 2014, The 3^rd Meeting of the Inter-State Council of Ministers of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA) was held in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. The meeting started from the 19^th to 21^st August 2014.

 The meeting was attended by the Ministers in Charge of Transport and Infrastructure from The United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The meeting was officially opened by Honorable Minister of State in Charge of Transport in the Ministry of Infrastructure-Rwanda, Dr.Alexis Nzahabwanimana.

The main objective of this important meeting was to harmonize the achievements of the aims of the Central Corridor Transport Facilitation matters; in particular, to consider all matters related to transit transport policy and operational co-ordination of traffic passing through the Corridor.

The meeting discussed various important issues, such assafety on the highways, improvements of Dar-es-Salaam port operations such as cargo handling, safety and security and improvement and simplification of billing and documentation processes. Other issues discussed included; reducing truck transit times through the One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) and One Stop Inspection Stations (OSISs), as well as undertaking measures to reduce axle-overloading and average crossing-time at weighbridge stations, strengthening of vigilance establishment in the states to deal with corruption hence improved trade and efficient transport infrastructural regional development.

Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe, the Tanzanian Transport Minister, said that plans are underway to modernize the port's berths and construct more four to help in cargo handling and ease clearance of goods.

He further said that the port's authority had also secured land near the port for the construction of a large Dry Port to handle transit cargo for Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and DR Congo.

The 2013 statistics indicate that 50 per cent of Rwanda's imports and exports go through Dar-es-Salaam Port through the Central Corridor. Hon. Mwakyembe said that with the new initiatives, transportation days from the port to Rusumo border post will reduce from the current 3.5 days to 2.5 days to ensure that the corridor and the port operate efficiently and avoid challenges like, bureaucracies, corruption and theft that affect flow of business at the port and reduce trade barriers, weighbridges, and police roadblocks that deter free movement of people and goods on the Central Corridor.

The Tanzanian Minister further noted that as a way of reducing the non-tariff barriers, the Government of Tanzania is currently constructing three Stop Inspection Stations at Vigwaza, Manyoni and Nyakanazi to reduce theft along the Corridor.

The Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency(CCTTFA)is a multilateral Agency established on 2^nd September, 2006, formed by an Agreement by the five Governments of the Republic ofBurundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), The Republic ofRwanda, The United Republic ofTanzaniaand the Republic of Uganda, currently Chaired by DRC

The CCTTFA was formed in recognition of the right of landlocked countries (LLC) to transit trade as declared under specific United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/180 on particular needs of Landlocked Developing Countries from which other declarations and action programmes evolved and the next meeting will be held in Arusha, the United Republic of Tanzania in November, 2014.