Kenya-South Africa relations strengthened

The Kenya Trade and Investment Summit — aimed at improving South African investments in Kenya — is set to further boost the already solid relations between the two countries.

Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed said the event would help maintain the two countries’ growth as economic powerhouses in their respective regions.

In an interview with CAJ News at the trade summit in Cape Town, Mohamed said South Africa has more than 60 companies operating in the East African nation, and that Kenya looks forward to signing more bilateral agreements with the country that has just regained its status as Africa’s largest economy.

“The timing has always been right to start these kind of relations,” she said, adding that new agreements would result in the removal of tariffs and other trade barriers that had delayed bilateral trade relations.

Mohamed dispelled perceptions that East Africa’s economic powerhouse was not conducive for investment due to the terror attacks perpetrated by insurgency group Al-Shabab. She said the country was on high alert to curb further attacks, and cited examples of terrorism inflicted on developed nations such as France, Turkey, Belgium, and the US. “Such happenings are not [just] in Kenya, but elsewhere across the world.”

The safety and security of the Kenyan political and economic climate, she added, has attracted the presence of more than 100 British companies in the country, as well as several others from Japan, China and India.

In another development aimed at enhancing Kenyan-South African relations, Mohamed revealed more bilateral agreements would be signed before end of this year when President Uhuru Kenyatta hosts his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has confirmed he will make a state visit to Kenya in October.

At the end of August, Kenyatta and Zuma met on the sidelines of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi to discuss regional security and bilateral issues. — CAJ News