China, Kenya hail bilateral friendship
Fresh COVID aid, cooperation agreements unveiled during FM Wang’s visit to the African nation
China will provide 10 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Kenya to help the country fight the pandemic, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Jan 6 during his African tour, as the two nations vowed to deepen their bilateral ties.
In addition, both countries signed six agreements as part of a memorandum of understanding to carry out cooperation plans that China announced during the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Senegal in November.
Speaking at the coastal city of Mombasa, Wang said Kenya is a strategic partner for China not just in East Africa, but also Africa as a whole as it is a key pillar in carrying out the Belt and Road Initiative on the continent.
“During our discussions, we addressed four key areas of partnerships between our two countries. These are: mutual support for sovereignty, cooperation in realizing modernization and industrialization, and solidarity in alleviating poverty as we strive for a shared future and partnership for peace in the region and globally,” Wang said.
He also reiterated the importance of China-Africa relations by pointing out that his visit is part of a 32-yearold tradition by Chinese foreign ministers in making Africa the first stop in their overseas visits each year.
Wang and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta paid homage to the bilateral friendship during a joint inspection of a major oil terminal project built by China in Mombasa, with Wang promising closer cooperation to contribute more to Africa’s development.
The $353 million offshore Kipevu Oil Terminal, the largest of its kind in Africa, is funded by the Kenya Ports Authority and implemented by the China Communications Construction Company. Construction of the 770-meter-long jetty is currently 96 percent complete.
Wang said the project is a reflection of sincere China-Africa friendship that has withstood the test of time, and he foresees the bright future of modernization through joint efforts.
“More than 600 years ago, Chinese navigator Zheng He leading the most powerful fleet visited Mombasa three times. He brought friendship and trust to Africa, rather than colonization or slavery,” he said.
“Six hundred years later, following the footprints of Zheng He, Chinese engineers and technicians have arrived in Mombasa and Africa again and built the best roads, best railways and best oil and gas facilities for local people.”
Among major benefits arising from the new facility, which is also a BRI project, will be a reduction in demurrage and costs of freight docking at the Mombasa port.
“Once fully commissioned … we shall save close to $18 million that we pay because of demurrage,” Kenyatta said.
When the project is complete in April, the offshore facility will be able to load and offload sea tankers of up to 200,000 deadweight tonnage carrying all categories of petroleum products including crude oil, white oil and liquefied petroleum gas, thus greatly increasing supply of oil to the country.
The terminal is expected to increase the Mombasa port’s capacity of handling transit petroleum products to 100,000 metric tons from the current 35,000 tons, with the capacity to handle four vessels, according to the Kenya Ports Authority.
The new oil terminal facility will have four berths capable of handling six different hydrocarbon import and export products. It also has five subsea pipelines which are buried 26 meters under the seabed to allow dredging of the channel without interference.
Kenyatta commended Kenya’s partnership with China, saying the arrangement had helped deliver key development projects including the offshore jetty, the Standard Gauge Railway and the Nairobi Expressway, among others. He also thanked China for continuing to open up its market to Kenyan exports.
“Our partnership with China is not a partnership based on China telling us what to do. It is a partnership of friends,” he said. “They were there ready to work and walk with us hand-in-hand and that indeed is what we call a friend. We do not need lectures about what we need. We need partners to help us achieve what we require.”
Kenyatta and Wang discussed a wide array of bilateral and multilateral subjects of mutual interest, including regional peace and security, as well as the global fight against COVID-19.
Raychelle Omamo, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, said the six agreements signed by Kenya and China during Wang’s latest trip include cooperation in the health sector, in which China promised to help Kenya improve its capacity to manufacture vaccines locally, in addition to providing cold storage facilities for vaccines.
She added that China will also donate 12,000 tons of rice in aid to families affected by the pandemic.
“We also signed agreements to collaborate in trade, increase foreign direct investment by China in Kenya, expand our digital collaboration and join hands in promoting peace and security in Africa and globally,” Omamo said.
On his wider goal for Africa, Wang said he aims to ensure that Africa and China achieve three major goals this year as they work together to meet the aspirations of the FOCAC.
“First, we plan to stand together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with new variants like Omicron arising. We also intend to uphold common interests in politics and carry out multilateral coordination in international relations at the United Nations in fighting for the rights of developing countries,” he said.
“The six agreements signed between Kenya and China (on Jan 6) are specifically geared toward this end,” he added, emphasizing that China is intent on helping Africa out of poverty.
China and African countries have jointly built more than 10,000 kilometers of railway, nearly 100,000 km of roads, 1,000 bridges and 100 ports in the continent, in addition to large numbers of hospital and school construction projects, Wang said, adding that China is willing to make new contributions for a better future for Africa.
Kenya was the second of three stops on Wang’s African tour, after Eritrea and before Comoros.