Uhuru calls for FDI in video pitch to Milken conference

Politics and policy

President Uhuru Kenyatta. PHOTO | FILE 

By KOBIA MWIRICHIA

In Summary

• President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched Kenya’s “considerable opportunities” for trade and investment in a video address to the Milken Institute Global Conference.
• He had been expected to attend the event in Los Angeles, but cancelled the trip when the first leg of his flight to the United States was aborted mid-air.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged American business leaders meeting in California to “ignore untruths about Africa” and invest in the continent.

He pitched Kenya’s “considerable opportunities” for trade and investment in a video address to the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.

Mr Kenyatta had been expected to attend the event, but cancelled the trip when the first leg of his flight to the US was aborted mid-air. A team of Kenyan officials and private sector representatives are at the conference.

“This conference is a superb opportunity to replace the older, darker view (of Africa) with a more accurate picture,” the President said, urging attendees to meet with the Kenyan team to hash out possible deals.

The President said Kenya has invested in infrastructure, citing expansion of the Mombasa port, work on a standard-gauge railway and a new port in Lamu.

“We are the gateway to Africa, its ninth-largest economy and the heart of a community of 150 million people,” he said. “We aim to make the most of these advantages.”

He said Kenya is keen to form partnerships in ICT, agriculture, energy, financial services and manufacturing.

“There is potential for partnerships in energy, especially because Kenya has perhaps half of Africa’s potential geothermal power,” he said.

Noting that young people and cities often drive innovation and growth, Mr Kenyatta disclosed that Africa will soon have about one billion young people of working age and over 100 cities of at least a million people each.

He added that reforms in various countries have revived African solidarity.

“We have renewed our conviction that if we stand together, we can solve our problems and earn the prosperity and freedom that we deserve,” he said.

The President, who has been at the forefront in regional integration, said the continent with support of friends and partners and has the second-best rate of return in the world.

The Milken Institute conference brings together distinguished leaders and entrepreneurs. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda is among key speakers. - PSCU