The State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Henry Okello Oryem has Thursday held talks with the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta on matters regional peace, security and trade.
The meeting according to Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs took place at State House Kenya, in the Capital, Nairobi.
“Hon. Okello Oryem, Minister of State Foreign Affairs today met with H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya at State House, Nairobi. They discussed matters in regard to promoting regional Peace and Security as well as increasing trade within the EAC,” writes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Kenya is Uganda’s biggest trade partner. Kenyan exports to Uganda in 2020 amounted to $673.66 million while Uganda’s exports to Kenya stood at $465.55 million during the same period.
The two countries have however been embroiled in a back-and-forth trade dispute.
The trade hostilities between the two EAC partner states saw Kenya stop importing Ugandan milk, particularly the Lato brand in 2019. Kenya later in 2020 banned Ugandan sugar, against an earlier agreement to increase Uganda’s sugar exports to Kenya.
But at the end of last year, Kenya agreed to allow the sale of Ugandan eggs, chicks and chicken, which it had restricted in February 2021 ostensibly to protect Kenyan farmers and enable them to recover from Covid-19 disruptions.
This followed a meeting between Kenya’s Agriculture Secretary Peter Munya, his Trade counterpart Betty Maina and Ugandan Minister for Agriculture Frank Tumwebaze.
The Ministers also agreed that Uganda stays its decision to impose retaliatory restrictions on Kenyan agricultural produce until the end of last month.