The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) will support East African Community (EAC) member countries improve digital trade connections among each other and with countries worldwide with a newly approved USD 1.64 million grant.

The grant, approved during MCDF’s Governing Committee meeting on 19 April , will support an African Development Bank (AfDB) capacity building program designed to increase digital connectivity within the EAC. Improved digitalization is designed to enhance trade Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems, as well as improve connectivity and transparency in cross-border trade between the seven neighboring African countries and beyond.

AfDB Senior Trade Facilitation Officer Rachael Nsubuga said: “The African Development Bank has prioritized the digital sector as an enabler for global growth. The project will enhance the connectivity of trade information portals to customs systems by addressing data and ICT capacity, and increase product and market coverage to strengthen EAC integration with the rest of the world. The project will thus contribute to the broader goal towards a regional single window, and build the institutional capacity and resilience of EAC for digitalized trade. The expected intuitive connectivity among portals and customs systems will thus result in improved trade facilitation, and market access for the private sector and other public agencies.”

The grant marks MCDF’s second funding approval supporting high-quality infrastructure and connectivity investments in Africa, following MCDF’s support last year to the AfDB financed Egypt to Sudan High Voltage Power Interconnector.

The Governing Committee is the main decision-making body of MCDF’s Finance Facility, a multilateral financial mechanism with the mission of enhancing high-quality connectivity infrastructure through partnership.