President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday held talks with his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, who is in the country for an official visit, focusing on bilateral and regional issues.
During a joint press conference, Uhuru affirmed Kenya's commitment to collaborate with Uganda for the benefit of the people of both countries.
"I believe the fruitful discussions our delegations have had will be work towards promoting trade, free movement of goods, services and people across our borders.
"We need to ensure we increase the number of boarders post along our common borders so that our border communities don't have to travel too far thereby encouraging illegal movement, we need to build more for them to have easier access to each other countries," Uhuru stated.
The Head of State thanked his Ugandan counterpart for their continued use of the Port of Mombasa.
He assured that his administration was committed to continually improving service delivery at the Port.
Kenyatta stated that both Kenya and Uganda were working on setting up more One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) were bearing fruits to further ease movement of people, goods and services between the two countries. The president noted that the already existing OSBPs were bearing fruits.
He further noted that Kenya would continue to work with Uganda to handle security threats in the region.
The President also asked for Uganda's support to Kenya's bid for a non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for the 2021-2022 term.
He also invited Uganda to join Kenya in the joint development of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to ensure it continues to Kampala, Uganda.
On his part, Museveni lauded the SGR adding that it would reduce the transit time between Mombasa and Kampala to 24 hours once completed.
"In the coming years, a lot of cargo will move from the roads to the railway and fuel will move from the roads to the pipelines," he conveyed.
Uhuru further revealed that Kenya and Uganda will put in place a formal border commission to look into boundary issues, including the Migingo Island tussle.
He explained that both countries were keen on efficiently utilising water resources for the benefit of their citizens.
