BY DIRAMAKINI
HER Excellency Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, today hosted His Excellency William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, at State House in Dar es Salaam, at the onset of his two-day state visit to the country.
The two Heads of State held a tête-à-tête, led official bilateral talks, witnessed the signing of eight agreements and briefed the press on a new push to deepen cooperation between the two countries.
The talks focused on trade, investment, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, ICT, defence and security, with both sides committing to accelerate implementation of agreed priorities.
President Samia and President Ruto agreed to clear outstanding non-tariff barriers by the end of May, 2026 and directed Joint Trade Committee meetings to be regularly convened aimed at resolving trade barriers and prevent new ones.The leaders also reviewed energy and infrastructure projects, including power interconnection, the Dar es Salaam-Mombasa gas pipeline, railway links through Tanga, Moshi, Kilimanjaro and Taveta, and the road corridor from Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Pangani, Tanga, Horohoro to Mombasa.
President Ruto highlighted Tanzania and Kenya as interdependent economies whose partnership must shift from suspicion to trust, and from administrative bottlenecks to trade facilitation.
He said bilateral trade stood at 860 million U.S. dollars in 2025, but could have crossed one billion U.S. dollars had non-tariff barriers not disrupted trade flows.Meanwhile, both presidents officiated signing of the eight agreements between Tanzania and Kenya, covering railway cooperation, a feasibility study for the Dar es Salaam-Mombasa natural gas pipeline, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, agriculture, recognition of seafarers' certificates, maritime transport cooperation, standards cooperation between Zanzibar and Kenya, and capacity-building in public service.
President Samia and her counterpart later attended the Tanzania-Kenya Business Forum, which brought together government officials, investors and private sector actors from both countries.
Closing the forum, President Samia said Tanzania would work with Kenya to remove barriers, align laws and regulatory systems, and build infrastructure needed to unlock cross-border trade and investment.At the forum, President Ruto said the two countries could raise trade to one billion U.S. dollars and attract 500 million U.S. dollars in new cross-border investment within three years if barriers are removed and private sector cooperation is strengthened.
Business leaders from Tanzania and Kenya also shared experiences on cross-border investment and called for deeper cooperation in manufacturing, energy, finance, agriculture, infrastructure and services as part of efforts to advance shared prosperity.