29th Ministerial Meeting
The Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI) advanced its regional trade integration agenda at its 29th Ministerial Meeting, held on 28 September 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting brought together HoAI Member States and Development Partners to review progress on regional trade facilitation and identify concrete steps to advance implementation of the HoAI Trade Facilitation Roadmap 2026–2031.
Building on the outcomes of the 28th Ministerial Meeting and the 3 September HoAI Trade Ministers Meeting, participants reviewed the updated Trade Roadmap, proposed intermediate steps and priority actions, and discussed funding needs and opportunities to support implementation.
The meeting also reviewed a pilot exercise for monitoring Ministerial Decisions in the energy sector and considered how the approach could support stronger follow-up and implementation.
The Ministerial was co-chaired by Hon. Mr. Bihi Iman Egeh, Minister of Finance of Somalia, and Mr. Volker Oel, Director-General for Reconstruction and Stability at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The Ministerial was followed on 29 September by a field visit to a regional project supporting livestock value chains and the first meeting of the Regional Trade Facilitation Committee (RTFC), further linking the Initiative's regional decisions with implementation on the ground.
