Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have agreed to reciprocally eliminate visa requirements, allowing visa-free travel between the two countries.
The agreement aims to facilitate the mobility of citizens of both countries, across both borders and increase trade between the two countries. The deal was reached following recent meetings between officials from the two nations in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
For some time now, the East African bloc, consisting of 7 Partner States, including Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, has been floating the idea of eliminating vis restrictions amongst its members.
Recently, DRC and Kenya took the initiative to eliminate visa restrictions between the both of them. The Democratic Republic of the Congo relaxed visa restrictions for Kenyans on the 1st of September 2023, matching Nairobi's gesture five days earlier.
According to both sides, this is a new policy between the DRC and Kenya to allow people movement in order to better integrate into the East African community to which both nations belong.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been campaigning for visa-free travel between the two nations for months.
"Crossing in East Africa should be free of charge." You have to pay for a visa to travel to America or Europe, but a visa to the Democratic Republic of the Congo? That is nonsense. If that's the case, I've eliminated it," President Museveni remarked last December when he opened the Mpondwe one-stop border station on Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In May, he ordered authorities from both nations to expedite the implementation of visa-free travel. Both Ugandan and Congolese nationals have previously expressed dissatisfaction with the hefty visa costs charged at border crossings.
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