The action comes after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta attended Somalia’s newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s inauguration on Thursday, signaling a change away from the tense relations that existed under the previous Mogadishu government.
A long-running maritime boundary dispute has strained relations, as have Somali charges of Kenyan intervention in their affairs, while Nairobi accuses Mogadishu of using it as a scapegoat for its own political and security woes.
Nairobi will recommence exports of khat or miraa, a mildly narcotic leaf popular in Somalia, according to Munya, while its Indian Ocean neighbor was looking to sell fish and other things to Kenya.
He stated that the contracts would be signed in two weeks.
According to Kimathi Munjuri, chairman of the Nyambene Miraa Traders Association in central Kenya, the prohibition enforced in March 2020 resulted in the loss of more than 50 tonnes of Kenyan khat every day, worth at roughly six million shillings ($50,000).
Munya added that the two countries will also sign an aviation agreement on the margins of a regional meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday.
After Nairobi hosted the political leadership of Somaliland, a breakaway entity not recognized by the federal government in Mogadishu, Somalia broke diplomatic ties with Kenya in December 2020.
They agreed to reset relations when Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble held talks with Kenyatta in August 2021.
“A peaceful and prosperous Federal Republic of Somalia is the dream of every Kenyan,” Kenyatta said at Mohamud’s inauguration.
“Your brothers and sisters in Kenya look forward to working with you so that we can all benefit economically and prosper together.”
Kenyan exports to Somalia of 13 billion shillings (over $110 million) accounted for nearly five percent of its total exports to African countries in 2021, according to government data released last month.
Imports from Somalia meanwhile were just 106 million shillings ($905,000) last year, the data showed.
Kenya and Somalia share a 680-kilometer (420-mile) land border and have been at odds for years over a piece of the Indian Ocean that could be rich in oil and gas.
The UN’s top court gave Somalia control of the majority of the region in October 2021, but Kenya challenged the decision.
Kenya is a key soldier contributor to the African Union’s military effort against Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab terrorists who are conducting a brutal insurgency across Somalia.