{UAH} Pojim/WBK: EDITORIAL: Kikwete visit heals rift between the EAC’s Big Two - Editorial
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EDITORIAL: Kikwete visit heals rift between the EAC's Big Two
The recent visit to Kenya by Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete has opened the door for improvement of bilateral relations between the two key players in the economy of East Africa.
It is a welcome development that technocrats from Kenya and Tanzania were able to cordially discuss some of the trade barriers that have been hurting bilateral relations between the two countries.
Both sides were able to table their grievances regarding trade and the free movement of people and services between the two countries for quick redress, mostly touching on trade, agriculture and livestock, ICT and foreign relations.
It is no secret that the frosty bilateral relations between the two countries over the past two years have threatened the process of regional economic integration.
Tanzania has often been seen as a stumbling block to regional economic integration by delaying the signing of or reneging on key articles in the East African Community Common Market Protocol, especially when it comes to trade with Kenya.
Kenya has also been involved in retaliatory measures that have not helped the integration process.
This trend was exacerbated at the political level when Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda formed the Coalition of the Willing (CoW) to implementing joint regional infrastructure projects outside the EAC structures, thus isolating Tanzania and Burundi.
But as President Kikwete said during his address to the joint Houses of parliament, Kenya is a strategic partner, not a competitor.
It is indeed time to call a truce and look at the bigger picture; after all, in 2014, Tanzania edged out Uganda as Kenya's largest export market in East Africa due to the ongoing elimination of non-tariff barriers and increasing local production in Uganda of goods that were previously imported from Kenya.
Not only is Kenya the leading investor in Tanzania, trade between the two countries comprises about 80 per cent of trade within the EAC and has increased by 40 per cent in the five years after the Common Market became operational.
However, Kenyan businesses still complain of being denied access to the Tanzanian market while Kenyan authorities are accused of imposing onerous restrictions on Tanzanian investors.
Other issues that need to be addressed include border taxation, restriction of horticultural export products from passing through Kenya's international airport, visas and work permits.
Tanzania's role in the EAC is coming under scrutiny. For instance, it has been reluctant to go the whole way on the EAC Protocol on Co-operation in Defence since it is also a state party to the SADC Defence Pact and therefore has been agonising how to balance commitments under the two protocols.
One hopes the incoming Tanzanian president will give more priority to EAC issues and regional integration.
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