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President William Ruto on Sunday, October 9, flew to Tanzania for a two-day official visit.
The Head of State and First Lady Rachael Ruto arrived in Tanzania on Monday evening. They were received at the Julius Nyerere International Airport by Tanzania’s foreign affairs Minister Dr Stergomena Tax.
The President of the Republic of Kenya @WilliamsRuto arrives at the @jnintairport for a two-day official visit to Tanzania. H.E. Dr. Ruto who is accompanied by his wife Mama Rachel Ruto was received by the Minister @mfa_tanzania Hon. @DrTaxs pic.twitter.com/Q7fe3y0qAX
— MFA Tanzania (@mfa_tanzania) October 9, 2022
The trip marks the Head of State’s fifth foreign tour since his inauguration as Kenya’s fifth President four weeks ago. Other countries he has visited recently include Uganda, Ethiopia, United Kingdom and the United States.
Ruto visits Uganda
Earlier in the day, he joined thousands of Ugandans at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala to celebrate the country’s 60th Independence Day anniversary.
In his address, Ruto renewed calls for free trade in the East African Community and the African continent at large.
He said there is an urgent need to transform borders within the EAC for the region to realize its economic potential.
“We can not share poverty, we can not share hunger but we can share opportunities and we can share prosperity,” Ruto stated.
“It’s our place as leaders and citizens of the East African region for us to work together so we can transform our borders which today stand out as barriers and convert them to bridges so that goods, services and people can move across East Africa without impediment.”
On Thursday, October 6, Ruto was in Ethiopia where he held discussions with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on bilateral cooperation between Kenya and Ethiopia and regional issues.
On his first tour of Ethiopia since his inauguration on September 13, the President also attended the launch of the Safaricom network in the country.
Safaricom Ethiopia is the subsidiary of Kenya’s largest mobile telecommunications company. It’s the first foreign investment in Ethiopia’s telecommunications scene.
A week after assuming office, Ruto visited the United Kingdom where he attended the burial of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19.
He later flew to New York where he attended the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
In New York, the President urged the world’s largest economies to extend debt relief to countries worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his address on Wednesday, September 21, the Head of State said there is an urgent need for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders to extend pandemic-related debt relief to developing countries, especially those affected by the devastating combination of conflict, climate change and Covid-19.
“I urge the G20 to extend and expand the scope of the common framework to suspend or reschedule debt repayments by middle-income countries during the pandemic recovery period,” the President said.
