Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta have instructed their ministers to work on the challenges that sparked a trade war between the two neighbours.
The Heads of States issued the directive after their talks in Kampala last week.
They were attending the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State summit in Uganda.
According to a statement by the Presidential Directorate of Communications, Dr Magufuli and Mr Kenyatta said they were committed to having all the trade barriers between Kenya and Tanzania removed in the greater interest of their nations.
“There are some minor issues that emerge in between, and we need the ministers to urgently address them.
These minor issues don’t have to reach our offices,” President Magufuli said.
“We have no problems at all…issues of shoes, clothes, wheat and gas don’t need our intervention; they are too minor,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Tanzanian ministers who are to execute the directive are Dr Augustine Mahiga (Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation) and Prof Palamagamba Kabudi (Constitution and Legal Affairs).
Those on the Kenyan side are the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ms Monica Juma, and the Cabinet Secretary for East African Community and Northern Corridor Development, Mr Peter Munya.
Earlier this month, Tanzania and Kenya directed regulatory authorities to play a more proactive role in preventing and settling disputes between the two countries.
The directive is part of the latest consensus reached by senior government officials from the two East African giants, who sought to stave off a brewing trade war during a meeting held in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.
Meanwhile, Dr Magufuli has also met South Sudan President Salva Kiir for bilateral talks.
Dr Magufuli said Tanzania was concerned about political unrest in South Sudan and repeated his call to end the fighting.
The fighting broke out in December 2013 President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d’état.
The Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment