President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday met with visiting State Counsellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Mr Wang Yi who paid him a courtesy visit.
The Head of State and the Chinese Minister discussed a wide array of bilateral and multilateral subjects of mutual interest to Kenya and China among them the two countries’ development cooperation framework, regional peace and security as well as the global fight against Covid-19.
The President reiterated Kenya’s commitment to its development partnership with China saying the cooperation had contributed greatly to the country’s transformation in recent years.
“Let me say as a country we strongly value the partnership between our two countries. Our political cooperation, our economic cooperation, our cultural engagement are something that we value and something that we look forward to deepening as we move forward.
“Kenya I can clearly say would not have been able to achieve many of our social economic development agendas without the support of China. And this is something that not only we as a government appreciate but also the people of Kenya appreciate,” the President said.
He expressed optimism that the continued opening up of the Chinese domestic market to Kenyan agricultural exports will help bridge the huge balance of trade gap that exists between the two economies.
“I am very appreciative especially as a farmer, on the movement we are making towards the opening up of market in China to Kenya’s agricultural products, am very keen myself to see that develop because the basis of success is if we are able to balance our trade,” President Kenyatta said.
Minister Wang Yi, who was accompanied by Qian Keming (Vice Minister, Minister of Commerce), Wu Jianghao (Assistant Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and his country’s Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Pingjiang assured President Kenyatta of China’s continued commitment to supporting Kenya’s development agenda.
Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo (Foreign Affairs), Joe Mucheru (ICT), Ukur Yatani (National Treasury), John Munyes (Petroleum), James Macharia (Infrastructure), Peter Munya (Agriculture), Mutahi Kagwe (Health) and Betty Maina (Trade) attended the State House, Mombasa meeting.
Others were Principal Secretaries Macharia Kamau (Foreign Affairs), Kirimi Kaberia (Industrialization) and Johnson Weru (Trade) as well as Comptroller of State House Mr Kinuthia Mbugua among other Senior Government officials.
