Kenyatta departs for Botswana with focus on trade

President Uhuru Kenyatta Monday morning travelled to Botswana for a three-day State visit.

President Uhuru Kenyatta. PHOTO | FILE 

In Summary

• The area comprises of 26 countries, covering an area of about 17 million square kilometres with about 630 million people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about Sh120 trillion, according to the East African Community.

By PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta Monday morning travelled to Botswana for a three-day State visit.
The State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said the two heads of state will discuss a number of issues of bilateral and regional significance.
“These include the Tripartite Free Trade agreement, which the President hopes will be ratified by all involved states soon; trade and economic ties with the southern African country, industry and manufacturing, mining and tourism,” said Mr Esipisu.
African countries are seeking wider access to African markets as growth in developed markets falters.
The Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (TFTA) is an arrangement signed in Egypt in June 2015 by countries belonging to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East Africa Community (EAC) in a bid to unite these trading blocs.
Wider markets
The idea of bringing the blocs together is to widen the market by reducing trading barriers and easing the movement of people.
President Kenyatta’s visit – at the invitation of his host President Ian Khama is geared towards boosting trade and bilateral relations between Kenya and Botswana.