(Xinhua/Liu Bin)
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attended the China-Kenya Business Forum in Nairobi on Monday, where he reaffirmed China’s commitment to expanding trade with Kenya and the wider African region.
Han recalled that in April last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kenyan President William Ruto jointly pledged to elevate bilateral ties to the status of a China-Kenya community with a shared future in the new era, thereby setting the long-term direction of the relationship.
The vice president made three proposals aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. First, strategic mutual trust should be consolidated. China is willing to strengthen the alignment of its development strategies with Kenya’s Vision 2030. It also wishes to support African countries, including Kenya, in transforming the assets represented by their natural resources into development forces, which will allow them to progress together towards modernization.
Second, it is to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation. China is Kenya’s largest trading partner, and represents an important source of foreign investment for it. Kenya is China’s largest trading partner in East Africa. China is keen to strengthen their cooperation in areas such as agricultural technology, digital economy and green energy, and encourages top-performing Chinese companies to invest and operate in Kenya.
Third, China upholds multilateralism. President Xi announced that starting May 1, China would apply a zero-tariff policy to all products from 53 African countries maintaining diplomatic relations with it. China is further ready to work with African countries, including Kenya, to safeguard the multilateral trading system and promote an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for international economic cooperation.
Han said the annual “two sessions” held recently in China approved the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan, which defines the country’s development strategy for the next five years. During this period, China will stick to high-level opening-up and share its development opportunities and achievements with other countries, including the Kenyan side, through open development.
Prior to the event, Han also met with Kenyan Vice President Kithure Kindiki. He said China supports Kenya in pursuing development suited to its national circumstances, and encourages it to take full advantage of trade facilitation measures to boost exports of distinctive and quality products to China, which will enable it to exploit the vast opportunities offered by the Chinese market.
China is a good partner and friend of Kenya, Kindiki said, noting that with the Belt and Road Initiative, China has promoted regional connectivity and created important opportunities for Kenya.
Kenya is willing to take full advantage of the benefits of the zero-tariff policy to increase its exports to China, promote balanced trade, strengthen technological exchanges and position itself as a gateway for China to the broader African market, he added.
