China to offer 1,000 scholarships to Kenyan students

President Uhuru Kenyatta with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping lead their delegations for bilateral talks in South Africa. PHOTO | PSCU 

By BD REPORTER

In Summary

• President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met during the China-Africa summit in South Africa.

China will offer a thousand scholarships to Kenyans as the two countries move to deepen trade ties.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping who met during the China-Africa summit in South Africa said a joint committee would lay a framework to balance trade heavily in favour of Beijing. It was the third meeting between the two Heads of State in the last two years.

The joint committee on Trade, Investment, Economic and Technical Cooperation comprises both Kenyan and Chinese officials.

“I propose that the technical teams of this Committee from both countries move with speed to address the trade imbalance,” President Kenyatta said in a statement.

Nairobi’s imports from Beijing stood at Sh248.6 billion last year compared to 6.5 billion that China bought from Kenya.

Chinese companies have in recent years stepped up presence in the country undertaking huge infrastructure projects like the Sh327 billion standard gauge railway to connect Mombasa port and Nairobi by 2017.

The Chinese president assured Mr Kenyatta of his country's commitment to ensuring that its joint development projects with Kenya would continue, citing the Standard Gauge Railway and roads as some of the priority projects the Chinese government was focussed on.