en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Africa and Kenya have signed trade facilitation and maritime cooperation agreements aimed at improving market access and strengthening logistics links between East Africa and Southern Africa.
These two agreements are part of six memorandums of understanding signed during Kenyan President William Ruto's state visit to South Africa last week. The new agreements bring the total number of bilateral agreements and memorandums between the two countries to 34. The trade facilitation memorandum of understanding aims to support efforts to expand trade under the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Both governments view tariff and non-tariff barriers, limited market access, and regulatory restrictions as obstacles to deepening intra-African trade. The memorandum covers cooperation in the areas of standardization, technical regulations, conformity assessment, accreditation, and metrology to improve market access between the two countries.
Ruto stated that practical barriers still exist, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, limited market access, and regulatory restrictions. Trade ministers have been instructed to accelerate the pace of removing these barriers. The shipping and maritime cooperation agreement aims to strengthen cooperation in the maritime sector and improve connectivity between East Africa and Southern Africa. The agreement is expected to support logistics networks, trade flows, and the movement of goods and services across the African continent.
At the South Africa-Kenya Business Forum, transport infrastructure issues were also raised. Funding from the Kenya Roads Board securitization program is one of the initiatives under consideration to support transport infrastructure development. Ruto also called for deeper cooperation in goods production sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining, logistics, pharmaceuticals, energy, digital services, and green industrialization. He stated that it is necessary to move beyond traditional trade and consciously build integrated regional value chains in related fields. Ruto also called for increased investment in agricultural processing, irrigation, cold chain logistics, and supply chains that connect African producers to African markets. He said Africa cannot continue to spend billions of dollars on food imports while farmers and agricultural industries are ready to feed the entire continent.
Ramaphosa stated that Kenya is one of South Africa's largest trading partners on the African continent outside the Southern African Development Community. Since 2022, total trade between the two countries has grown by an average of 3.5% annually.
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