Kenya to organize business forum in China to woo investors

NAIROBI -- Kenya plans to organize a business forum in China in April in order to woo investors into the east African nation, officials said on Thursday.

Moses Ikiara, chief executive officer of the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), told Xinhua in Nairobi that the Sino-Kenya business forum will be held on the sidelines of the second Belt and Road Initiative Forum.

"The day-long event will bring together Kenya's government and private sector to meet potential investors from China," Ikiara said.

Ikiara said that Kenya will use the conference to showcase the numerous investment opportunities in Kenya.

He added that Kenya has a lot of bankable projects in the manufacturing, energy, health and agricultural sectors.

According to KenInvest, the Chinese are now among the top five investors into the country and are concentrated in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

"We are especially keen to have the Chinese boost our manufacturing sector through use of modern technology," Ikiara added.

He said that Kenya has signed numerous bilateral and multilateral preferential trade agreements to open up markets for Kenyan goods.

"Unfortunately we have not been able to fully exploit these markets as local manufacturers don't have the capacity to produce for international market," Ikiara said.

He noted that the Chinese could help Kenya become a competitive producer and exports of world class products.

Ikiara noted that currently the bilateral trade is in favor of China and thus more investments are needed to ensure Kenya can produce goods that are required in the Chinese market.