Reported by
Faridah N Kulumba
The President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta together with the newly sworn in Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced as they had agreed on a raft deals and among the biggest one is a long-awaited plan to build a 600km cross-border gas pipeline that will run between the coastal cities of of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
The announcement was made at a press conference in Nairobi on Tuesday 4 May, during President Samia’s first visit to Kenya, since she was sworn in as the first female Tanzania’s president after the sudden death of her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli who died of heart condition.
According to the Africa report, president Samia and her counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged to reset diplomatic and trade relations that were strained under Tanzania’s late Magufuli’s administration.
Hindrances of the gas pipeline in the last decade
The gas pipeline plans have been in the works since at least 2010, but it was put on the back burner after the relations between the two nations grew strained over a multitude issues in the last decade, and unfortunately it worsened during the five years of Magufuli’s presidency.
But after a closed-door meeting which lasted for about three hours, President Samia Suluhu and President Uhuru Kinyatta assured the journalists that the two nations are now more than ready to improve their relations.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said that the cross-border gas pipeline deal they signed with the president of Tanzania Samia Hassan will improve the lives of his people and businesses, and will also help to reduce the cost of electric power, and will help transition Kenya to environment-friendly energy.
Other raft deals
President Kenyatta announced to waive work and business permits for investors from Tanzania, as his counterpart Samia made similar overtures in a thawing of often frosty relations between the two countries.
“We would like to see many investors from Tanzania coming to do business in Kenya. And i want to say this, Tanzanian investors are free to come and do business in Kenya without being required to have business visas or work permits,”said President Kenayatta.
President Hassan said she and Kenyatta agreed to reduce barriers to bilateral trade, in order to grow businesses and investment between the two countries.
The two nations also agreed that health officials should work together on Covid-19 issues.
Maimuna Makena Kenyan trader and exporter told Africa-press in a phone interview that she is optimistic that the two nation’s agreement to resolve trade issues will improve movement of goods, people and labour, and this milestone will elevate the economic development for both countries.
