NAIROBI, Kenya, May 2 – President Uhuru Kenyatta is on Tuesday expected to host Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu for bilateral talks at State House in Nairobi.
President Suluhu’s visit, the second outside her country since taking office on March 19, follows a similar visit to Uganda where she signed a petroleum pipeline deal with President Yoweri Museveni.
A statement released by State House Nairobi on Sunday indicated the visit by Suluhu will last two days.
“Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania will arrive in the country on Tuesday, 4th May 2021 for a two-day State Visit to the Republic of Kenya,” a dispatch by the Press Office read.
During her visit to Uganda on April 11, the foreign visit since assuming leadership following President Pombe Magufuli’s sudden death, President Suluhu inked a deal which would see a 1,445 kilometre East African Oil Pipeline constructed linking Ugandan oilfields in the Albertine rift to Tanzania’s seaport of Tanga.
Uganda, being a landlocked country, had until the April 11 signing been rooting for the construction of the pipeline which is key to the evacuation of oil reserves discovered in 2006, estimated at six billion barrels.
Kenya’s bid to have the pipeline rooted to Lamu through Lokichar suffered a blow in March 2016 after Tanzania and Uganda jointly announced plans to fund the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), also known as the Uganda–Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP) running from Hoima to Tanga through Bukoba.
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