TANZANIA and Kenya have agreed to continue solving non-tariff trade barriers to enable cross-border trade to be conducted for 24 hours.

The two countries have also agreed to forge a joint plan to harmonize charges, fees, taxes and laws that affect trade and remove other conditions that affect movements of goods and people.

This was said over the weekend by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Stephen Byabato and the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Kenya, Rebbecca Miano after signing and handing over a joint Communiqué during the 8th meeting of the joint trade committee between Tanzania and Kenya at the ministerial level held in Kisumu, Kenya.

In addition, Byabato noted that the countries have agreed to ensure that Tanzanian laws do not prevent Kenyan traders from doing business in Tanzania and Kenyan laws do not prevent Tanzanian traders from doing business in Kenya.

Regarding the signed agreement, Byabato said some non-tax barriers have so far been removed to promote trade and the economies of two countries.

He said this was done to strengthen relations with Kenya which is the trading partner of Tanzania not only in Africa, but worldwide.

The Deputy Minister said the restrictions included the removal of the ban on tea importation from Kenya, the removal of the ban on exporting to Kenya, the removal of the ban on exporting timber to Kenya through the Horohoro border, which was introduced by the Kenyan Bureau of Standards.

Byabato said that the two countries have agreed to deal with some obstacles in practical ways and to strengthen the procedure to monitor the implementation of the agreement and exchanging information about areas of cooperation.

The Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Kenya, Rebbecca Miano said that Kenya is ready to strengthen cooperating with Tanzania by removing non-tax trade barriers to promote business as well as strengthen the unity of the citizens of two countries.

The meeting is the implementation of the recent directives by President Samia Suluhu Hassan and President William Ruto seeking to remove all obstacles affecting business in order to strengthen trade relations.

The meeting also aimed to address the remaining issues discussed in the 7th business meeting between the countries held on March 9-12, 2022 in Zanzibar.

Such a meeting is expected to be held in July this year with the aim of reducing or completely removing the remaining obstacles, as part of promoting trade and the economy of both countries.