Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye is expected in Nairobi on Monday for a two-day State visit to Nairobi.
This will be the first time in nearly a decade that a Burundian leader will tour Kenya.
According to organisers of Madaraka Day national fete, President Ndayishimiye will grace the occasion in the lakeside city on Tuesday, on the invitation of his host, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The trip will mark Ndayishimiye’s continued opening up, a policy that runs counter to his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza who died last year without making a foreign trip in five years. Nkurunziza had faced a coup attempt on his last visit to Dar es Salaam.
Ndayishimiye has made four foreign trips already, including a state visit to Equatorial Guinea, a visit to Tanzania, and Uganda, just eight months after he took over.
A dispatch seen by the Nation said Kenya and Burundi will use the occasion to discuss "strategic cooperation", starting with their membership in the East African Community.
Various bilateral agreements which have been pending for the last five years are also likely to be signed.
"Burundi remains an important trade partner to Kenya with the balance of trade is in favour of Kenya. There is immense untapped potential to expand trade relations between our two countries in terms of both value and volume," a dispatch on the visit says, indicating the intent to seek more markets for Kenyan investors in Burundi.
Kenyan firms such as KCB Bank, Diamond Trust Bank and Jubilee Insurance already operate in the country, besides routine flights to Bujumbura by the Kenya Airways.
Officials also suggested they will add Burundi on board as Kenya seeks a wider network to the Democratic Republic of Congo. An applicant to join the East African Community, the DRC is awaiting a decision, but will need closer cooperation with neighbours such as Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda to enable a seamless market, officials in Nairobi said.
"Burundi is an important key player in terms of promotion of regional economic growth. Bujumbura is recognised as the regional hub and entry point to Eastern DRC and the hinterland of the greater central Africa region."Eastern DRC border towns of Uvira, Bukavu and Goma are easily accessible and they receive most of their supplies from Burundi," says a brief seen by the Nation.Sources told the Nation on Friday that the two sides also discuss issues of wildlife conservation, including routine relocation of endangered species under a mutually agreeable programme. Burundi, once […]