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Sunday, June 28, 2020
Kenya to engage US in trade meetings in July
By Cyrus Ombati
President Uhuru Kenyatta (pictured) says the much-anticipated trade talks between Kenya and the United States of America will start on July 7.
The President said the Kenyan negotiating team, which includes the
country’s envoy in Washington DC, is ready to start the negotiations.
“We are still on schedule for the negotiations, which are scheduled to start on July 7,” the President said.
He said the talks, which will lead to the signing of a free trade
agreement (FTA) between Kenya and the US, have been designed to kick off
on the same day the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) comes
into effect.
“What we agreed is all negotiations will be done as soon as the African
Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect in July,” the President
said.
Uhuru spoke on Friday evening from State House, Nairobi during a virtual
leaders’ forum on US-Africa trade, convened by the Corporate Council on
Africa (CCA). The American business association was established in 1993
with an objective to promote business and investment between the US and
Africa.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo also addressed the forum whose theme
was: “Resiliency in Action: Sustaining Regional and Bilateral Trade Post
Covid”.
Uhuru told the forum Kenya’s Covid-19 infections would have been higher
if the country did not institute robust containment measures.
“We closed our borders, closed schools and prohibited large gatherings,
increased testing, contact tracing and quarantine measures in addition
to intensifying social distance and other hygiene protocol
requirements,” he said.
Economy suffered
While acknowledging that Covid-19 response measures had helped save
lives, the President noted that the interventions had led to negative
economic effects.
He said the informal sector, tourism and hotel industry, suffered the
heaviest burden. Uhuru added that his administration had put in place
measures to cushion vulnerable communities and businesses from adverse
effects of Covid-19.
The President said the health crisis had created an opportunity for
Kenya’s manufacturing sector to demonstrate its resourcefulness by
producing supplies needed to contain the disease. He said Kenya aims at
concluding the FTA with the US ahead of the expiry of the AGOA
arrangement in 2025.
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