President William Ruto on Monday, October 10, gifted Tanzanian Head of State Samia Saluhu samples of locally produced Kenyan tea during his State visit.
In footage shared by State House Tanzania, Ruto presented President Suluhu with boxes of teabags of three varieties of tea processed and packaged in Kenya.
On her part, his host gifted him with an iconic painting of a house along the Indian Ocean beachfront.
"Her excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan gifted her guest, Dr William Samoei Ruto a souvenir painting following his arrival at State House Dar es Salaam," stated the presidential communications team.
While the two presidents led their delegations on diplomatic and trade relations, First Lady Rachel Ruto met Zanzibar's Prima Dona Mariam Mwinyi who gifted her a Tanzanite necklace.
The two further discussed how the manner in which they would use their roles to address issues to uplift and maintain the place of women not only in the region but also across the continent.
"The First Lady of Zanzibar, Mama Mariam Mwinyi, and the First Lady of Kenya Mama Rachel Ruto unanimously agree that they will use their positions and offices for the empowerment of women in East Africa and in Africa," the statement read in part.
In a joint presser, Ruto and Suluhu announced that their delegations had made several breakthroughs in various trade policies that undermined free-flowing trade between the two countries.
"Out of the 68 trade restrictions, 54 non-tariff barriers were addressed by our team of experts. The delegations have been instructed to expedite the process of clearing the remaining 14 so that we can boost trade across the border," Suluhu stated.
On his part, Ruto vowed to maintain the existing trade relations with Tanzania. He pledged to hasten the completion of the construction of a Ksh100 billion gas pipeline between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi through Mombasa.
"We have agreed that those stakeholders involved will expedite the process so that we can use the resources in our region to lower the energy tariffs, both for industries and commercial purposes, domestic use for the benefit of our people," he pointed out.
Ruto arrived in Tanzania on October 9 from Uganda, where he was hosted by President Yoweri Museveni for the country's 60th independence day celebrations.
