Kenya signs Sh425bn deals with China
Kenya signed agreements worth $5 billion (Sh425 billion) with China on Monday.
On
the same day, President Kenyatta was accorded a formal welcome
including a 21-gun salute at the Great Hall of the People, the most
iconic building in China.
Some $4 billion will cover
economic partnerships, wildlife protection, and the standard gauge
railway linking the port of Mombasa and the border town of Malaba, which
President Kenyatta said would provide better access to markets for
goods from Kenya as well as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern part
of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Another $1 billion was slated for energy-related projects.
“These
agreements deepen our practical cooperation,” President Xi Jinping told
President Kenyatta shortly before the agreements were signed.
“China supports Kenya’s quest for industrialisation,” the Chinese leader added.
Speaking
in Beijing during bilateral discussions dominated by business and
investment partnerships in Kenya’s economy, President Kenyatta invited
Chinese investors to look at opportunities in Kenya’s 47 counties, in
oil and gas, power generation, Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport
project (Lapsset) and the technology city at Konza, near Nairobi.
VISION 2030
He
said China was playing a critical role in the realization of Vision
2030, especially in the execution of capital-intensive flagship
projects.
President Xi said China was also exploring
other areas of investment, including agribusiness, irrigation,
fertilizer production and purchases, and technology.
The
Chinese leader said his country would also support Kenya’s plans to
host a clearing house for the Chinese renminbi currency in Nairobi –
greatly boosting the Kenyan capitals credentials as a leading financial
hub.
Presidents Xi and Kenyatta pledged to increase
contact between China’s ruling party and Kenya’s ruling Jubilee
coalition. They agreed that party-to-party contact was essential to
bolster political and economic partnerships.
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