The agreement follows after lengthy talks between Somalia Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Rooble and Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta at the coastal town of Mombassa on Tuesday. 

In a statement, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta welcomed restoration of the Kenya-Somalia diplomatic ties, and underscored the importance of stability in national and regional development saying, economic growth is only possible in a peaceful environment.

"Without peace, there cannot be prosperity. Let us focus on providing services to our people. This can only be possible if we work together to root out terrorism. It’s time to improve trade and sort out immigration issues to allow increased people-to-people interactions," A statement by Kenyan state house read in part.

"Prosperity of our people is key. Let us open a new page for our people by encouraging people-to-people and interactions,” the statement added.

The visit by Prime Minister Rooble infuriated outgoing president Farmaajo and was at the center of the deteriorating relations between the two countries, after giving his brother the license to import Khat from Ethiopia, after banning Kenyan khat.

Prime Minister Roble regretted the recent deterioration of relations between Kenya and Somalia saying, it was an error for the two nations to forsake the vision of unity held by the founding fathers of the two nations, according to a statement released by Kenya’s state house. 

Khat, a leafy stimulant that grows in both Ethiopia and Kenya is likely to have become a catalyst accelerating the divorce proceedings between Somalia’s top leadership namely prime minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and his boss Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.

Since 1991 when Somalia’s central government was toppled, hundreds of Somali traders had been flooding the country’s markets with khat mainly imported from Kenya.

Despite the chaos and anarchy, the country had been swimming in, the commodity which was main sources of jobs for women, had no had impact on the country’s political system.

The onset of Farmaajo administration, the lucrative trade became a conduit to fund politics and feed creamery families of the politics.

Kenya has unsuccessfully sought to have the ban lifted but Mogadishu has stood ground against the requests.

The profiteers and cartels have lured some members of the family of the outgoing president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo to invest the business by requesting the president to give node the importation of khat from Ethiopia.

After securing importation license, Hassan Abdullahi Mohamed (Hassan Farmajo), the brother of the current president and members of the president’s family had taken over the control of the lucrative khat trade, which costs about half a million US dollars per day, culminating the formation of HareriSom Company.

"The company was established in early 2020 and started importing khat within the course of 20 days of its registration which shows that it was part of the implementation of a plan that the presidency knew about,” a senior adviser to the Ministry of Commerce who sought anonymity said. The company was importing over 28,000kg of khat from Ethiopia.

Following operation of a year as sole importer of Khat in the markets, early this year, HareriSom started facing stiff opposition from politicians and traders hailing from clans in Mogadishu, prompting an immediate tripartite meeting between Hassan Farmaajo who representing the company, elders from Mogadishu clans and president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.

 Sources at the meeting confirmed that sides agreed the formation of another company identified as City traders which would also import trade from Ethiopia. The young company was given permit to import about 10,000kg with a condition of sharing the profit with the country boss.

In what could be a mission to divert the public intension from the family trade deals, the government announced that it had inked a barter trade deal with Ethiopia that enables them to export fish to their neighbours in exchange for Khat. Despite earlier announcement, no full information about the export of fish to Ethiopia had yet been made available to the media.

Meanwhile, Kenya has now scaled up its efforts to convinced Somalia to reopen its markets for khat from Nairobi.

Early this week, Kenya dispatched a delegation led the country’s foreign minister Raychelle Omamo to hold talks with her counterpart, Mohamed Abdirisack over bilateral talks and to deliver an official invitation from Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to PM Roble.

Somalia prime minister acknowledged the historical relationship that exists between Kenya and Somalia, saying the friendship is based on "good neighbourliness, cooperation, stability and mutual respect".

"Today is the beginning of a strong and deep relationship of our brotherhood. Somalia will work hard to strengthen the Joint Commission for Cooperation in the interest of both peoples, their unity and stability and beyond the region and the continent” PM Roble said through a translator.

"We will look for opportunities that lead to lasting stability and peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and genuine cooperation while avoiding anything that could harm that relationship,” he assured.