Kenya and Tanzania resolve 23 trade barriers after Samia visit

Kenya and Tanzania resolve 23 trade barriers after Samia visit

Kenya and Tanzania resolved 23 restrictive regulations that had impeded trade between the two countries, following President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s Nairobi visit in May 2021, a government paper shows.

A new government paper shows that Kenya had initially targeted to resolve about seven non-tariff barriers (NTBs) — restrictive regulations which licences, quotas, embargoes, foreign exchange restrictions, and import deposits — in the financial year 2021/22 but this jumped to 31, reflecting a warm relationship between the two countries.

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The drop in the number of these trade barriers, which pushed the cumulative NTBs resolved and eliminated to 256 by end of June last year, came moments after the visit to Kenya by President Suluhu who had just replaced the late John Pombe Magufuli.

Dr Magufuli’s protectionist policies had occasionally flared up in a diplomatic spat between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

“The over achievement was as a result of collaborations between Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania to resolve NTBs to create market access,” reads part of the Report for General Economic and Commercial Affairs Sector, a sector working group for the budget preparation, which also includes the Treasury.

Source: Businessdailyafrica.com