President Kenyatta said both nations were emerging middle income countries, which are economic bulwarks on the two sides of Africa, and would be enriched by closer ties. Photo/PSCU.
President Kenyatta said the agreements that were signed will increase trade between the two countries and called on investors to take advantage of the agreements.
“Despite the cordial relations between our two countries the level of economic engagement has been wanting even though a steady growth in trade has been recorded recently. Let us take advantage of the agreements signed today,” said the President.
President Kenyatta said Kenya and Ghana share a vision of increasing intra-Africa trade as he encouraged businessmen from the two countries to take advantage of the existing opportunities.
On his part, Mahama said the reinvigorated relations between his country and Kenya will be beneficial and called on citizens to work hard as the governments create more conducive environments.
He said both nations were emerging middle income countries, which are economic bulwarks on the two sides of Africa, and would be enriched by closer ties.
President Kenyatta is the chairman of the East African Community (EAC) while President Mahama is the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“We are architects of a future our forefathers only imagined. It is our duty to work for the greater good of our people,” he said.
President Mahama’s visit to Kenya is set to rekindle the close historic ties between Kenya and Ghana, which for decades seemed to have been forgotten.
The Ghanaian President, who came to Kenya on Thursday for a state visit at the invitation of President Kenyatta, is the first sitting president of Ghana to come to Kenya even though the two nations have been tied to each other through the close friendship between their founding fathers.
President Mahama was welcomed to State House, Nairobi in the morning with a colourful ceremony accompanied by a 21 gun salute.
President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta later hosted a luncheon for the visiting President and his entourage consisting of cabinet ministers and senior government officials.
The close ties between Kenya and Ghana date back to the pre-colonial days when Ghana’s First President Kwame Nkrumah and Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta were united in anti-colonial crusades.
When Ghana got independence in 1957 it encouraged the anti-colonial struggle in Kenya and other African nations.
The agreements signed between the two countries include bilateral Air Services and cooperation in energy, oil and gas sectors.
The two countries also signed deal on tourism and another on technical, vocational, education and training (TVET) reforms.
Memorandums of understanding in the fields of agriculture and ICT were also entered into.
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