Nairobi — Great Lakes countries should pay attention to regional markets alongside those of the developed world, Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju has said.

Tuju said the region could be struggling to win the "great Western markets" but lacking a comparative advantage for them. He said as the world gets more globalised, there was need to integrate efforts and chart new directions to enhance economic relationships.

He urged the region to recognise its embassies, where the members have "a comparative advantage" to exploit the existing ample trade opportunities.

The minister was addressing delegates during the opening of the Fourth Session of the Kenya/Rwanda Joint Permanent Commission in Nairobi.

As a move to that cohesion, Tuju said, Kenya was looking forward to the formalisation of Rwanda's East African Community (EAC) membership. He said Rwanda's membership would greatly expand the sphere of cooperation in the region and challenged members to take advantage of the proximity between them to benefit from trading opportunities.

The two-day meeting attended by Rwandan ministers and Kenya's senior Government officials will discuss politics, security, investment, agriculture, education, immigration, and health, among others.

The Rwanda team is led by Cooperation Minister, Mrs Rosemary Museminali. Tuju said the trade volume between Kenya and Rwanda had increased to Sh7.1 billion last year, compared to Sh6.4 billion in 2004. He added that regional collaboration would forge durable peace, stability and economic prosperity to avoid unending struggles for international markets.

Mrs Museminali said improved relations between Kenya and Rwanda had been sustained by "a sincere political will and commitment".

She said that bilateral relations between her country and Kenya could be sustained by setting higher and achievable goals, guided by time lines. The two ministers agreed that stronger relations could be achieved through fast processing of immigration documents.