KENYA President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday called upon Tanzanian companies to en masse come and invest in his country. Mr Uhuru was categorical that the investors were welcomed to set up business ventures in the East African nation, maintaining that they were free to operate in his country without visas or work permits.
“We would like to see more companies and businessmen come to invest in Kenya, as long as they abide by the laws of the land,” stated Mr Uhuru, while addressing a meeting of business investors from Kenya and Tanzania in Nairobi.
Mr Uhuru’s assertion will be music to ears of Tanzanian businessmen and entrepreneurs, considering that the number of business ventures owned and run by Tanzanians in Kenya stood at 30, in contrast, there are over 500 Kenyan companies in Tanzania.
“The prosperity of our two countries hinges on the conducive environment for business as we have a common desire to promote trade and tourism within the East African Customs Union framework,” explained President Uhuru.
The Kenyan leader underscored the importance of the two East African Community (EAC) Partner States to corporate on trade and tourism fronts, rather than compete for the benefit of its people.
Despite enjoying an overall trade volume of $ 18.8 million, Tanzania and Kenya have in the past been embroiled in a sibling rivalry. He added: We can only transform our economies if we seriously work together.
In the same vein, Mr Uhuru challenged the country’s Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina to get out of her comfort zone and resolve truckers’ stalemate at Holili/ Taveta One Stop Border Post and the maize row in Namanga border.
Mr Uhuru, who also chairs the EAC Heads of State Summit, also tasked his ministers to find a lasting resolve on the issuance of Covid-19 certificates. In March this year, Kenya banned maize from Tanzania, claiming that it contained high levels of mycotoxins that exceed safety limits.
Last year, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi agreed that truck crews from both countries would undergo testing before commencement of their journeys at the point of origin as the per World Health Organization (WHO) standards. That, has however not been the case, with custom officials from the countries being reluctant to allow the crews to drive through.
Earlier on, Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade Kitila Mkumbo assured the business forum of a planned bilateral engagement that will ease tensions between the two countries and open up business between the nations. The meeting is scheduled for later this month, according to Prof Mkumbo.
On his part, East African Business Council (EABC) Chairperson Nicholas Nesbitt attributed the decline in intra EAC trade to several barriers to trade, investment and movement of persons. Intra-EAC trade currently stands at below 20 per cent against Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) 48 per cent and European Union’s (EU) 70 per cent.
He pushed for the need to embrace digitalization particularly in moving goods and services across the region and harmonizing the tax regimes “We need to strengthen the East African Secretariat and encourage value addition in manufacturing and diversification of our products,” he said.
According to Mr Nesbitt there was a need to enhance competitiveness of EAC products by building regional supply chains; ensuring professionals who have credentials in foreign countries and the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs).