ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia and Kenya reaffirmed commitment to bolster their relations particularly in trade and investment while vowing to make the Ethio-Kenya boarder post an east Africa trade hub.
Earlier yesterday, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed welcomed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who is paying an official visit to Ethiopia. Speaking at Ethiopia-Kenya trade and investment forum themed: ‘Strengthening economic and trade partnership,’ the premier underlined that his country has been registering economic upturn the last years, which promoted and attracted foreign investment.
He said the long-standing partnership between the two sides will play pivotal role in further attracting FDI which ultimately benefits their two peoples. The premier also stressed that the Ethio-Kenya boarder post development ought to get primacy to put in place common administration and make it a trade hub in the East Africa.
He also called on Kenyan investors to tap the enormous opportunities in the area of energy, aviation, agroprocessing, textile and garment. “We emulate lessons from our marathoners values such as endurance, stamina and unbeatableness to achieve our aspiration.” For his part, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appreciated the leadership of Dr. Abiy saying that it could transform the country both politically and economically.
He also urged the business people of both countries to find new business linkages, while maintaining the existing ones, to foster the two-sides relations. Indicating that the trade volume between the two countries is almost negligible compared to the potential, he reiterated to increase investment in infrastructure to enhance cross boarder trade.
The president also vowed to work hand in glove with the government of Ethiopia in all fronts to pursue common interests. Information obtained from Ministry of Foreign Affairs have it that Ethiopia and Kenya through their joint Border Commission agreed to establish a peace committee to resolve issues that could disturb peace and security of residents in boarder areas.
The peace committee, agreed up on to be established, comprising officials of relevant government institutions, administrators of areas in the shared boarder and elders from both countries. The 32nd Ethio-Kenya Joint Border Commission meeting has also discussed on border related issues for three days starting from February 12 Tuesday in Adama.
The three-day meeting discussed on political, socioeconomic, peace and security issues across the shared boarder. The meeting concluded by adopting resolutions that enable them strengthen relations and resolve forthcoming conflicts. The Ethio-Kenya Joint Border Commission is one of the oldest joint border commissions in the region dealing with border issues.
The meeting focused on intra-border security, stemming illegal weapons flow and human trafficking, enhancing border trade for the benefit of the border communities, and cooperation on health and education as well as strengthening people-to-people ties between the communities on both sides of the border. Regarding infrastructure, in mid-September a delegation from the African Development Bank (AfDB) visited Ethiopia to assess progress on the Addis AbabaNairobi-Mombasa road project.
The Ethiopian Herald, March 2/2019
BY WORKU BELACHEW
Photo Dagne Abera
