President Paul Kagame has announced that Rwanda will allow Africans to travel visa-free to the country.
The East African country has thus become the latest nation on the continent to announce such a measure aimed at boosting free movement of people and trade to rival Europe’s Schengen zone.
President Kagame made the announcement on Thursday in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, where he pitched the potential of Africa as “a unified tourism destination” for a continent that still relies on 60 percent of its tourists from outside Africa, according to data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
He said, "Globally, the travel and tourism industry has recovered strongly, but the high cost of their travel to Africa and within Africa remains a barrier.
"Implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market is therefore an important priority.
" We also removed visa restrictions for citizens of every African country as well as many other countries. Let there be no mistake about it.
"Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish and you will not pay a thing to enter our country.
" 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 fast pace in the decades to come.
" We must work closely together with partners like you to continue developing Africa into a premier destination for global travel."
Rwanda will become the fourth African country to remove travel restrictions for Africans.
Other countries that have waived visas to African nationals are Gambia, Benin and Seychelles.
William Ruto, Kenya’s President announced Monday plans to allow all Africans to travel to the East African nation visa-free by December 31.
“Visa restrictions amongst ourselves is working against us. When people cannot travel, business people cannot travel, entrepreneurs cannot travel we all become net losers” he said at an international summit in Congo Brazzaville.
The African Union in 2016 launched an African passport with much fanfare, saying it would rival the European Union model in “unleashing the potential of the continent.” However, only diplomats and AU officials have been issued the travel document so far.
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