Kenya and Tanzania have set their sights on KSh130 billion in new trade and KSh65 billion in fresh cross-border investments over the next three years.
President William Ruto said these ambitious targets will be attained by bringing down non-tariff barriers that have persistently impeded trade and investment the two nations.
“Our governments will establish a joint technical mechanism to eliminate all outstanding barriers, publish a time-bound resolution plan, and implement a continuous monitoring system to ensure new barriers are addressed swiftly and conclusively,” the President told more than 300 business leaders at the Joint Tanzania-Kenya High-Level Business Forum in Dar es Salaam on Monday.
The event, co-hosted with President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, brought together business leaders from banking, manufacturing, telecommunications, agriculture, and energy.
It was the centrepiece of President Ruto’s two-day State Visit, which began Monday with bilateral talks with President Suluhu Hassan and signing of eight key agreements at State House Dar es Salaam.
President Ruto was accompanied by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Cabinet Secretaries Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Mutahi Kagwe (Agriculture), and Lee Kinyanjui (Trade and Investment), and parliamentary Majority Leaders Aaron Cheruiyot (Senate) and Kimani Ichung’wa (National Assembly), among other senior officials.
President Ruto said the forum was a useful platform to engage and share ideas on how to strengthen bilateral ties and establish a more favourable business environment in the region.
“We reaffirm our steadfast resolve to provide a stable, predictable, and enabling environment anchored on regulatory clarity, investor protection, and private sector-led growth,” he said, adding that the forum had identified opportunities for deeper collaboration and flagged constraints that must be comprehensively addressed.
He said the Kenya-Tanzania partnership has transformed into a dynamic economic relationship driven by strong trade and investment, and people-to-people connections.
Within the East African Community (EAC), he stated, the two nations are demonstrating that regional integration “is not merely an aspiration; it is achievable”.
The President cited new data from the EAC Secretariat showing total regional trade jumped 25 per cent from $124.9 billion (KSh16.14 trillion) in 2024 to $156.6 billion (KSh20.23 trillion) in 2025. Intra-EAC trade grew even faster at 28 per cent, rising from $15.1 billion (KSh1.95 trillion) to $19.3 billion (KSh2.49 trillion) over the same period though it still accounts for about 15 per cent of the region’s total trade.
Bilateral trade between Kenya and Tanzania stood at $860.3 million (KSh111.13 billion) in 2025, a slight reduction from $950 million (KSh122.72 billion) in 2024 but with near-balanced flows on both sides.
“These numbers reflect deepening complementarities and expanding value chains between our economies,” President Ruto said.
Investment flows tell a similar story. Kenyan investments in Tanzania now exceed $1.7 billion (KSh219.61 billion) across financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail, while also positioning Kenya as a dependable source of industrial inputs for Tanzania.
Tanzanian investments in Kenya are now over $336 million (KSh43.41 billion), rising in tourism, manufacturing, energy, and agriculture.
“Together, these investments are driving job creation, facilitating skills transfer, and strengthening industrial capacity in both countries,” the President said.
Yet for all the milestones, the President was categorical that the two countries are “still underperforming relative to our full potential”. The gap, he stressed, “lies not in ambition, but in execution”.
To close the gap, he outlined four pillars that would boost trade and investment within the two nations. The first is infrastructure. He called for seamless linkage of the Standard Gauge Railway lines, greater complementarity between the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, and completion of the 400kV Kenya-Tanzania Power Interconnector.
“Reliable and affordable energy is the fuel that drives industrialisation,” he said.”
The second pillar is finance and digital systems. With regional banks and mobile money platforms already global benchmarks, he said the next step is real-time cross-border payments, inter-operable fintech systems, and deeper capital market integration to unlock the digital economy at scale
The third pillar cited by President Ruto is joint efforts at industrialisation, pointing out that Tanzania’s strength lies in raw materials and natural resources, while Kenya’s advantage is in manufacturing and capacity for value addition.
The fourth pillar is private sector leadership: “The government’s role is to enable, de-risk, and accelerate. Your role, as business leaders, is to invest, innovate, and integrate,” President Ruto told the business leaders.
Arising from the forum, the President announced institutional reforms to stimulate growth and expansion. Beyond the Joint Business Council as the central platform for structured collaboration, the Tanzania-Kenya Business Forum will be institutionalised as an annual event to review progress, track implementation, and unlock new opportunities.
“The forum will serve as a standing mechanism for accountability, dialogue, and action,” he said.
It will be complemented by a joint annual ministerial review to track progress on trade and investment, and the resolution of constraints.
These measures will build on existing EAC tools, including the Single Customs Territory and One-Stop Border Posts, which have already cut border crossing times from days to hours, lowered logistics costs, and enhanced predictability for businesses.
The goal, he noted, is to turn “two separate markets into one integrated economic ecosystem.” He added: “We are doing so, not as competitors but as co-creators of shared prosperity.”
President Samia Suluhu Hassan reaffirmed Tanzania’s commitment to undertake far-reaching reforms to boost trade ties with Kenya.
“The challenges between us can be easily resolved when there is the requisite goodwill from both sides,” she said, noting that cordial relations provide a firm foundation to advance mutual interests beneficial to the people of both countries.
The Tanzanian President said the two nations are “joined at the hip” and have no choice but to work together to realise economic and development goals.
“Kenya and Tanzania have to unite and explore ways to unlock opportunities available in the private sector,” she said.
Kenya will host the next Tanzania-Kenya Business Forum in Nairobi in 2027.
