Ethiopia last week officially launched a visa-on-arrival service for all African travellers at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) Commission.
This comes after the Ethiopian Department of Immigration and Nationality Affairs, in collaboration with Ethiopian Airlines, launched an online e-visa service for all international visitors to the country.
“Visa-on-arrival for fellow African brothers and sisters, and more importantly, visa online will greatly boost cross-border tourism, trade and investment, further deepening African integration,” said Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam.
During the launch, African Union commissioner, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called on AU member states to also take measures to ease the travel of African citizens on the continent in order to support the objectives of free movement which forms part of integration initiatives.
He said that by doing so, member states would support instruments such as the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement as well as implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market.
“I know that full implementation of free movement of people requires overcoming numerous challenges, but these cannot and should not stand in the way of our dream” added Mahamat. “What is required is renewed political will.”
