Kenya’s export to TZ on the rise

SOUND bilateral relations between Tanzania and Kenya are now paying off, after the latter’s exports to her neighbour topped East African Community (EAC) growth.

According to Economic Survey 2023, Kenya exported goods worth 981bn/- to the East African neighbour in 2022, compared to 791bn/-, the previous year.

Such a feat is attributed to improved ties after the pair endured stained relations for some time.

The once perceived ‘siblings’ rivalry’ at times had the two being at odds over economic and logistic issues, with traders from both countries rivaling each other.

The tiff also dates back to 2017 when Dar es Salaam destroyed 6,400 chicks smuggled into the country from Kenya.

In May 2021, President Samia Suluhu Hassan made her maiden visit to Kenya with the aim of unlocking trade and strengthens economic relations and re-energise the Joint Commission on Cooperation.

During her visit, President Samia  Suluhu also participated in the Kenya-Tanzania business forum that took place during her visit and assured participants that the Governments of both countries are ready to give them any cooperation they will need in promoting trade and investment.

“I want to go faster, I want to open up the country, whoever wants to invest should come and invest,” she stressed.

What followed from the trip was the resolving of 30 Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) that jeopardised trade between the two.

Some of the issues resolved on the Tanzanian side included facilitating clearance of soft drinks such as juices, removal of inspection fees for processed products with standardisation mark including wheat flour.

The two parties further agreed to grant cement products from Tanzania a preferential treatment, where it was also established that Tanzania had started implementing the Single Window System which has significantly reduced delays in clearance of pineapple juice produced in Kenya.

The two countries have also agreed on continuing to implement two strategic bilateral projects, which include the construction of the natural gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to the city-port of Mombasa in Kenya and the construction of the coastal tarmac road connecting Tanzania and Kenya (Bagamoyo-Malindi).

During his visit in the country in Tanzania last October Kenyan President William Ruto said because of the goodwill built between the two countries, trade between the countries has grown phenomenally, where in one year, export from Kenya to Tanzania grew from 598bn/- to 868bn/- and trade of goods from Tanzania to Kenya grew from 521bn/- to 964bn/-.

“An increase in trade benefits everybody and I have come to underwrite that increase in trade is where we want to go, we want to increase trade between our two countries, we want to double that number.

Kenya is one of the Tanzania’s main trading partners, representing 4.3 per cent of all Tanzanian exports and 4.1 per cent of all imports.