Kenya and Uganda have signed a tripartite agreement allowing Uganda’s state oil firm to import her petroleum products through Kenya. 

President William Ruto made the announcement on Thursday after meeting his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni at State House, Nairobi.

He said the two nations had agreed during the second session of the Joint Ministerial Meeting (JMC) held early this week in Kampala where seven instruments of cooperation were signed.

“The Tripartite Agreement on the Importation and Transit of Refined Petroleum Products through Kenya to Uganda whose signing we have just witnessed enables the Uganda National Oil Company Limited to Import refined petroleum commodities directly from producer jurisdictions thus bringing to an end the challenges faced by the sector In Uganda,” stated Ruto.

According to President Ruto, the seven MoUs signed helped to resolve other trade barriers between the two countries.

The other agreements included MoUs in Education cooperation, sports, youth affairs, Public Service Management and Development and cooperation between Foreign Service institutions.

President Ruto further noted that the two nations had also agreed to jointly extend the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to Kampala to DRC.

“The meeting also emphasized the importance of extending the SGR not only from Naivasha to Malaba but all the way to Kampala and DRC as an efficient and sustainable Infrastructural artery for the transportation of goods,” he said.

“We have obliged our respective Ministers to take joint urgent measures to mobilize resources for the implementation of this regional shared Infrastructure and report on progress by the end of 2024.”

The agreement which comes months after a dispute between the two countries over oil transportation.