President of Kenya, William Ruto has urged African countries to rethink their visa regimes in order to boost intra Africa trade and position the continent for true transformation.
African governments, Ruto said, should facilitate “people-to-people, business-to-business and government-to-government affairs,” not create barriers.
“The people who introduced visas to Africa have abandoned them. In Europe today, citizens of the 27 countries in the European Union don’t need visas to travel from one country to the other,” he underscored.
The Kenyan leader spoke on Thursday when he met President Emerson Mnangagwa’s special envoy, Ambassador Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, at State House in Nairobi.
He made a commitment to hold discussions with his Zimbabwean counterpart on visa free regime between the two countries. The president also said they will discuss the need for more flights from Nairobi to Harare and vice versa.
In addition, Ruto used the meeting to stress that Kenya opposes the continued economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, adding that they are unnecessary.
“At a time of economic difficulty, climate change effects and pandemics, sanctions only exacerbate the burden on the citizens of Zimbabwe,” he said.
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