President William Ruto announced on Saturday during his keynote address at the Three Basins Climate Change Conference in Brazzaville, Congo, that starting in 2024, visa requirements will be waived for African nationals planning to visit Kenya.
This comes as a significant development for travellers.
The President emphasized that this decision is driven by the goal of enhancing trade relations with fellow African nations.
President Ruto also highlighted the need to address the current low levels of intra-African trade and proposed a reduction in customs tariffs across the continent to expedite the realization of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
What he said
According to him,
- “It is time we realize the importance of trading among ourselves and allowing goods, services, people and ideas to move freely across the continent,” he explained.
Continuous improvement in trade among African countries
Earlier, Ruto emphasized that the removal of visa requirements and tariffs would lead to a significant increase in trade among East African Community nations.
He highlighted the importance of acknowledging and incentivizing countries in tropical forest basins to protect their forests, emphasizing the benefits of such actions for climate preservation.
Kenya recently eliminated visa requirements for Angolan citizens. During the African Private Sector Dialogue Conference on Free Trade in May, President William Ruto expressed that this move might mark the last time African delegates need to pay for visas when visiting Kenya.
In August, Indonesia became the third country within a month to be granted visa-free access to Kenya. In July, nationals from Comoros and Senegal were given the freedom to enter Kenya without visas. In February of the same year, Kenya and Eritrea agreed to permanently waive visa requirements for their citizens.
In June, Kenya and Djibouti worked together to establish a visa-free regime to stimulate trade between the two nations. Furthermore, Kenyan passport holders were granted visa-free entry to South Africa, due to a new visa-free agreement between the two countries.
The President mentioned in November 2022 that this agreement was reached after the intervention of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Now in this latest move, he says, “By the end of this year, no African will need a visa to enter Kenya. The time has come to understand the importance of doing trade between us”.