NAIROBI, KENYA: In a move aimed at easing travel and business ties, Kenya has reached an agreement with Mozambique to remove visa-on-arrival requirements for diplomats and local nationals, while the two sides prepare a double tax agreement over the coming months.
The archive story was published on 21 November 2018. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma said the deal, which had been brokered nine months earlier, was expected to be signed that week.
Juma said the arrangement followed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to Maputo in March 2018, when the two governments began setting up frameworks for a Bilateral Trade Agreement and an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement to support investment and commerce between Kenya and Mozambique.
“We agreed to allow free movement of people under a Visa agreement to facilitate trade and tourism and private sector investment,” CS Juma said.
The timing of the agreement also followed a visa dispute that affected Kenya’s representatives at the Fiba Africa club championships in Maputo in November 2018. One of Kenya’s representatives was held at Maputo airport over a visa hitch, and although the issue was later resolved after talks between the Mozambique Basketball Federation and immigration officials, the Kenya Ports Authority women’s basketball team was detained at Maputo International Airport for close to three hours.
Juma said the wider bilateral push came just days before the Blue Economy conference the following week, arguing that the two countries needed to support each other as they negotiated multilateral deals.
“Kenya and Mozambique share a vast Indian Ocean coastline that can be exploited for its vast marine resources that could transform our economies in sustainable manner,” CS Juma said.
Cooperation between the two countries had already advanced in aviation. The Bilateral Air Service Agreement, established in 2012, opened the way for direct flights between Kenya and Mozambique.
In another significant diplomatic step, Kenya recognized the Makonde as the 43rd tribe of Kenya in 2017.
That recognition, together with the new travel and trade arrangements, underscored the broader effort by Nairobi and Maputo to deepen political, economic, and people-to-people ties.
