Kigali, 7 December 2011
President Kagame today received the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga who paid a courtesy call on him. President Kagame and the Kenyan Prime Minister discussed bilateral matters between Kenya and Rwanda and issues related to the East African region where the two countries belong.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said:
“I briefed the President on the ongoing conference on unlocking the potential of the East African region and what is expected out of it. We have also touched on unlocking the region and the bottlenecks that are experienced, particularly with regard to non-tariff barriers to trade and the progress that has been made in improving communication in the region. We all agree that all the five member countries in this region should work in tandem to remove the non-tariff barriers and facilitate movement of goods and people. Rwanda and Kenya have led the way to remove the requirement of work permits and we want to see other countries follow suit because it is mutually beneficial. We also talked about security generally and the issue of Somalia and I mentioned to the President that we are dealing with it.”
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has been in the country to attend the two-day Economist East Africa Summit that was aimed at debating on the region’s future prospects under the theme “Unlocking The Business Potential.”