• Four East African countries signed an agreement creating the DESSU Corridor Authority on February 15 in Djibouti.
• The multimodal corridor will link the Red Sea to the Great Lakes and connect landlocked economies to Djibouti’s ports.
• The African Development Bank finances the project and says it will cut transport costs and boost regional trade.

The four countries signed the agreement creating the Djibouti–Ethiopia–South Sudan–Uganda (DESSU) Corridor Authority on Sunday, February 15, in Djibouti. The regional project aims to link the Red Sea to the Great Lakes and ease trade flows among the participating East African states.

This milestone came one year after the countries signed a memorandum of understanding. The agreement now allows the joint authority overseeing the project to coordinate implementation, regulatory harmonization, and infrastructure development along the corridor.

The corridor will connect the Port of Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Jimma, Boma, Raad, Kapoeta, Nimule, Gulu, and Kampala. The route will create a continuous logistics chain linking global maritime shipping lanes to inland production and consumption hubs.

As a result, the project will strengthen maritime access for Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda. The corridor will also reduce logistical constraints related to high transport costs and long transit times in supply chains.

According to the African Development Bank, which also finances the project, the strategic corridor “is an essential driver of development, as it will reduce transport costs, improve connectivity with Djibouti’s ports for landlocked countries, link production areas to regional and continental markets, boost trade flows, facilitate cross-border movement of goods and people, and strengthen agricultural and livestock value chains on which most corridor-side communities heavily depend.”

This article was initially published in French by Henoc Dossa

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum