DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
Tanzania and Kenya on Friday signed eight bilateral pacts following talks spearheaded by President Samia Hassan and her Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, who was on a two-day visit to Dar es Salaam.
According to the Kenyan presidency, the bilateral pacts include agreements on mutual legal assistance, extradition and transfer of sentenced persons as well as memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on immigration, correctional services and animal health.
Others are MOUs on cooperation between Kenya Investment Authority and Tanzania Investment Centre as well as housing and urban development.
"We have had an opportunity to hold bilateral talks on issues concerning our two nations and agreed to work closely to foster our relations so as to attain our shared vision for prosperity of our people,” President Kenyatta said after witnessing the signing of the agreements.
Kenyatta was meeting Suluhu for the second time in eight months, having also met in Nairobi in May.
The two leaders have been working to thaw tensions that had been brewing under President John Pombe Magufuli, following disagreements on travel restrictions between the two countries.
In his remarks on Friday, Kenyatta commended a joint team of Kenyan and Tanzanian trade experts whose work in recent months, he said, had helped resolve most of the non-tariff barriers that hindered cross-border trade between the two countries in the past.
On her part, President Suluhu thanked Kenyatta for honouring her invitation to attend the 60th anniversary of Tanzania’s independence.
The Tanzanian Head of State echoed her Kenyan counterpart’s sentiments on the improving cross-border trade between the two East African economies due to the removal of most of the identified non-tarrif barriers.
“I commend the JCC for speedily resolving 46 out of the m 64 non-tariff barriers that existed and I am sure the remaining ones will soon be resolved so that people can continue with their businesses,” she said.
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