Kenya and South Africa Translate Common Aspirations Into Regional Alignment
From 3 to 5 June 2026, Kenya’s President William Ruto was on a state visit to South Africa at the invitation of President Cyril Ramaphosa. The main purpose of the visit was to foster the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and several agreements were sealed in that sense.
During this overseas mission, Ruto was accompanied by his wife Rachel and led a team of ministers, including the Minister for Trade Lee Kinyanjui, the Minister for Mining and Blue Economy Hassan Jobi, the Minister for Gender Hanna Cheptumo, the Minister for Education Julius Ogamba, as well as the Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei.
Both sides signed several cooperation MoUs, covering Shipping, Trade & Industrialization, Education & #TVET, Culture, Women Empowerment and Youth Development.
Both Presidents express their commitment to the AfCFTA and views the single and large market as a driver for African development and growth. To boost trade, tourism and other exchanges between the two countries, Kenya Airways and South African Airways would partner to enhance air #connectivity, and in line with the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).
Similarly, the two sides signed a Maritime and Shipping Cooperation MoU, which aims to enhance maritime #connectivity by promoting port development, fostering capacity building, and mutually recognizing seafarers’ competency certificates.
Kenya commended South Africa’s role during its presidency of the G20 in 2025, when it called for a united front to push for reforms in the International Financial Architecture and Global Governance that is more attuned to Africa.
Kenya is South Africa’s largest trading partner within the East African Community (EAC). In 2025, bilateral trade volume sits at about USD 640 million, representing an average annualized compounded growth of 6.3% over the five past years.
Due to the different levels of development between the two countries, the trade is heavily skewed in favor of South Africa since Kenya only exports about USD 54 million of goods to South Africa. Thus, the two sides agreed to address the huge trade imbalance by promoting more South African investments into building up the industrial capacity of Kenya.