Somalia President makes first state visit to Kenya

President Uhuru Kenyatta this morning officially received President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of Somalia on his first State Visit to Kenya, according to him full honours complete with a 21-gun salute.

At the formal welcome ceremonies at State House, Nairobi, the visiting Head of State inspected his first guard of honour mounted by a detachment of the Kenya Army while the national anthems of Kenya and Somalia were played by the military band.

Thereafter, the two leaders held one-on-one talks before they led their delegations in bilateral talks aimed at bolstering cooperation between Kenya and Somalia.

At the bilateral talks, President Kenyatta is expected to impress on the need to reinvigorate efforts to scale up collaboration in mutual areas of interest identified during the inaugural session of the Joint Commission for Cooperation that was held in Nairobi in July 2015.

Areas of cooperation identified in the Joint Commission include security, trade and investment, civil aviation, education, agriculture, resources sharing and development, livestock development, fisheries, tourism, immigration, labour and health.

The President is also expected to speak on the importance for the technical teams involved to convene as soon as possible to review the implementation status of the Joint Commission for Cooperation, in particular, to conclude the proposed instruments of cooperation.

Last month, President Kenyatta attended the inauguration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed in Mogadishu and pledged Kenya’s continued support to the Horn of Africa country.

The Kenyan leader assured the new Somali President that Kenya would remain steadfast in supporting efforts that would bring peace and stability in Somalia.