Uhuru, Chinese President meet over Kenya projects

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shake hands during a deal signing ceremony. Some African countries may seek to renegotiate repayment of existing debts to China as a way of helping their economies hit by lower crude and commodity prices. PHOTO | AFP 

By PSCU

In Summary

• This year’s FOCAC also comes at a time when Kenya and China’s development cooperation is at its apex, with several agreements already signed including the September 2015 deal to extend the Standard Gauge Railway project to Naivasha. The initial phase of the project was from Mombasa to Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and attend the second summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The President arrived from Paris where he attended the 2015 Climate Change Conference.
He will join other African leaders and President Xi for a Summit expected boost ties between African states and China, the world’s second largest economy.

Ahead of the China-Africa summit, President Kenyatta and President Xi will hold bilateral talks late on Thursday.

FOCAC is a platform established in Beijing by China and friendly African countries for collective consultation, dialogue and cooperation mechanism. Both China and African nations agreed on the need for a new strategic partnership that would promote ties based on equality and mutual understanding.

The two-day FOCAC Summit kicks-off in Johannesburg on Friday. It is the first time FOCAC is being held in Africa.

China relations

The Summit will have far-reaching significance in boosting comprehensive transformation and upgrading of China-Africa relations. It will also provide a historical opportunity to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in priority areas such as infrastructure, industrialization, agricultural modernization, health, people-to-people exchanges and peace and security.

This year’s FOCAC also comes at a time when Kenya and China’s development cooperation is at its apex, with several agreements already signed including the September 2015 deal to extend the Standard Gauge Railway project to Naivasha. The initial phase of the project was from Mombasa to Nairobi.

READ: Africa to focus on China debt in Jo'burg as commodities slump

Relations between Kenya and China were elevated to a higher level by President Kenyatta when he made his maiden State visit outside Africa to China in August 2013.

Among key outcomes of the State visit were commitments by China to support Kenya’s development and establishment of a Comprehensive Cooperation Partnership (CCP) of equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit and win-win outcome.

As a show of the deepening relations, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Kenya last year. During the visit, 17 agreements that touched on various segments of the Kenya’s economy were signed. Key among them was the financing of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway project, which has employed more than 25,000 Kenyan engineers and workers.