EAC urges Kenyan, Tanzanian investors to boost cross-border trade

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The East African Community (EAC) on Wednesday called on Kenyan and Tanzanian investors to take advantage of bilateral engagements between partner states to boost cross-border trade.

Peter Mathuki, secretary-general of EAC said that Kenya’s imports from Tanzania between January and June grew by about 70 percent as compared to a similar period last year as a result of regular bilateral engagements that focused on the resolution of trade disputes.

“The trade volumes at the Namanga (Kenya-Tanzania border) increased sixfold last month, compared to a similar period last year,” Mathuki said in a statement released on Wednesday.

EAC member states include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.

According to Kenya government statistics, the value of goods imported by Kenya from Tanzania stood at 18.3 billion shillings (about 167.5 million U.S. dollars) in the first six months of 2021 while Kenya’s export to Tanzania stood at 158 million dollars in the same period.

Mathuki also called upon the business community in the East African region to push for public-private partnerships, citing the increased trade flows between Kenya and Tanzania, resulting from public and private bilateral dialogues in the recent months.

He said that the EAC secretariat is at an advanced stage of deploying a 24-hour working system at the border points, among all partner states, and fully integrating the one-stop border post systems to boost trade.

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Xinhua