Kenya, Ethiopia to inter-connect Power Grids

President Mwai Kibaki, who is attending the 14th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Tuesday met and held talks with the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi.

During the discussions, President Kibaki and the Ethiopian Premier instructed the Ministers of Energy from the two countries to expedite the inter-connection of the power grids of the respective countries.

The inter-connection of the power grids of the two countries is expected to enable Kenya access additional electricity to fix energy supply shortage that has been experienced in recent years as a result of erratic weather patterns and rapid economic growth.

The two leaders, who met on the sidelines of the AU summit, also revisited the issue of the Southern Corridor which comprises road link, railway line and oil pipeline stretching from the proposed Port of Lamu along the Kenyan coast to Ethiopia and Sudan.

In underlining the need to speed up the construction of the Southern corridor, the two leaders noted that the corridor is the long term solution to the transport problems between Kenya and Ethiopia.

The corridor, they further noted, will also facilitate the development of the Northern Kenya as well as the Southern part of Ethiopia.

During the talks, the two leaders also dwelt on the bilateral relations between the two countries and reaffirmed their commitment to further enhance cooperation in various areas of development.

The two leaders singled out the need to link the two countries via fibre optic cable as this will further facilitate development cooperation.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Zenawi expressed their appreciation on the progress being made in this regard, noting that telecommunication companies of the two countries are working closely to achieve the desired results.

The talks were attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, his Ethiopian counterpart Mr. Seyoum Mesfin and Kenya's Ambassador to Ethiopia Mr Franklin Esipila.