President William Ruto on Thursday morning jetted out of the country to attend the 23rd Summit of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Heads of State and Government in Bujumbura, Burundi.
According to State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed, the President will engage in high-level discussions aimed at cementing Kenya’s multilateral relations with other strategic partners across various fields of mutual interest.
‘’During his visit, the President will engage in high-level discussions aimed at bolstering Kenya's relationships with key strategic partners, with a particular focus on strengthening regional value chains to deepen COMESA integration,’’ a statement shared by the State House Spokesperson read in part.
The COMESA Summit will seek to address key areas of trade within the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Key among the discussions will revolve around the extension of sugar safeguard measures to improve the product market within the region.
Ruto is set to further drum up support for Kenya to gain the hosting rights of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Secretariat, which unites three regional economic communities: COMESA, the East African Community, and the Southern African Development Community.
Ruto is also set to utilitise the foreign trip to Bujumbura to meet and hold discussions with several presidents from the African continent.
Among those lined up for meetings on the sidelines of the summit are President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema.
The President will also meet the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed where he is set to engage him on matters of enhancing Kenya-Egypt partnership in areas revolving around trade.
He will engage in bilateral talks with Zambia's President on avenues to facilitate trade between Kenya and Zambia.
The talks with Hakainde will also focus the formation of a Joint Trade Committee to address and resolve non-tariff barriers between Kenya and Zambia.
‘’The discussions with Egypt will focus on enhancing the Kenya-Egypt partnership, with a joint commitment to increase trade between the two nations. His bilateral meeting with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema will explore avenues to facilitate trade, including the formation of a Joint Trade Committee to address and resolve non-tariff barriers,’’ Hussein added.
Consequently, he is also expected to use the opportunity to seek the support of other Heads of State, to mobilize for votes to Kenya's candidacy for the African Union Commission(AUC) chairperson position.
However, it was not immediately clear as to whether Kenya's preferred candidate Raila Odinga will join the President in Bujumbura as has been the norm in other recent foreign trips.
