Following a fruitful talk between presidents John Magufuli and Uhuru Kenyatta, traders from both countries can now import and export wheat flour, cooking gas from Tanzania, and milk, cigarettes from Kenya.
“The Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania will lift any other restrictions that affect products and services exchanged between the two countries,” The countries’ Foreign Affairs ministers said in Nairobi on Sunday in a statement read by Tanzania Foreign Affairs minister Augustine Mahiga, who is also in charge of the East African Community Affairs docket.
Kenya banned the importation of cooking gas from Tanzania in April, with the Energy ministry at the time saying the move was meant to curb the proliferation of illegal filling plants.
Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said at the time that Mombasa would be the only point of import for Liquid Petroleum Gas.
Tanzanian LPG companies export to Kenya about 40,000 tonnes of cooking gas annually.
Gas from Tanzania is cheaper because their costs of offloading at the ports in Tanga and Dar es Salaam are lesser than those in Mombasa.
Kenya had said it would only allow wheat flour and other products milled from grain produced in Tanzania or whose full Common External Tariff rate has been applied.
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