President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday evening bade farewell to Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
President Suluhu was in Kenya for a two-day State visit which came to an end on Wednesday after addressing a joint session of Parliament.
During her short stay, the Tanzanian Head of State also held talks with President Kenyatta during which they signed a raft of new agreements, besides also attending a Kenya-Tanzania business forum.
Kenya and Tanzania agreed to eliminate barriers hindering the smooth flow of trade and people between the two East African nations.
The decision was arrived at on Tuesday at State House, Nairobi during bilateral talks led by President Kenyatta and President Suluhu.
A joint team of experts will be set up to address the disjointed enforcement of cross-border Covid-19 containment protocols, one of the most pronounced non-tariff trade barrier between the two nations.
“Just as His Excellency the President has said, we have agreed that our Health Ministers need to sit down and come up with a structured system of testing our people at the border points to allow easy movement of our people so as to do their businesses,” President Suluhu told the media at State House, Nairobi.
The two leaders noted that Kenya and Tanzania need to develop modalities for mutual recognition of COVID-19 test results, noting that the lack of harmonized protocols has hampered free flow of goods and people.
“First, we noted that trade between Kenya and Tanzania is facing some administrative challenges. They include non-tariff barriers and other restrictions which are frustrating trade and investment between our two countries,” President Kenyatta said.
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