Visa Requirement has Hindered Trading Activities in Africa

Africa has a lot of potential in terms of resources but the continent has failed to fully utilize these resources so that her inhabitants can benefit.

Africa still has the poorest people and still battles with some common curable diseases such as malaria that are history in other continents.

It is very difficult to carry out trading activities in African countries and the situation is even worse if you are trying to trade between one African country and the other. There are trade restrictions in almost every African country, something that has made it almost impossible for the movement of goods from one country to another.

Dreams of establishing a borderless Africa so as to facilitate trading activities is yet to be realized with each country trying to protect its own interests without putting into perspective the broader objective that will benefit all the African people.

Something that has hindered many people to move in Africa is the concept of Visa. One still needs a visa to move from one African country to another and the process of getting the document in some African countries being tedious and tiring leading to many people giving up. Africa has to move fast and adopt an open-visa policy in terms of trading activity if an economic boom has to be witnessed.

According to a report released by African Development Bank, movement in African is heavily hindered by the visa issue with almost have the continent requiring one to be in possession of a visa before travelling in such countries.

There is good news though, with the index released by the African Development Bank indicating that almost all the East African Countries have adopted an open-visa policy allowing members from these member states to freely move and trade without any hindrance.

According to the index, among the top twenty visa-open countries, 75 percent of them are in East Africa with North Africa having none among the top twenty. In East Africa, the top countries with the most open in terms of visa are Kenya, Djibouti, Comoros, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.

Article by Juma Fred.