Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu to begin a two-day State visit to Kenya

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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu to begin a two-day State visit to Kenya

8:16 CAT | 04 May 2021

FILE - New Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, centre, inspects a military honour guard after her swearing-in ceremony. [File photo: Courtesy]

Less than two months after she was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu will cross the border into Kenya on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 for a two-day state visit, her second foreign trip after she met President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala last month.

Her official plane is expected to touch down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 9am with a series of high-level engagements lined-up that could set the stage for the tone of relations between Kenya and her East African neighbour moving forward.

Suluhu’s visit comes on the back of an official invite from President Uhuru Kenyatta delivered by Sports CS Amb. Amina Mohamed on April 10, 2021 in Tanzania. The main aim would be to mend frosty relations between the two countries which had escalated under previous governments, with a focus on the tariff wars between the two countries that had slowed down trade over the years.

Kenya is the biggest investor in Tanzania while Tanzanian exports to Kenya have been on an upward trajectory in the last 10 years.

According to the UN Comtrade Database, in 2019 Kenya imported goods worth Ksh.29 billion from Tanzania and exported goods worth Ksh.35.4 billion to her neighbour.

President Suluhu’s first stop will be at State House where she will inspect a guard of honour and receive a 21-gun salute before proceeding for bilateral meetings and consultations. Later that evening, an official State dinner in her honour will take place at the same venue.

By Waihiga Mwaura

Source: The Citizen Kenya