Ruto
President William Ruto will embark on an official visit to Beijing, China on Sunday evening leading the Kenyan delegation to the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit.
In a statement, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed said the summit brings together African Heads of State, Chinese leaders and the African Union Commission to discuss and strengthen Sino-African relations.
“The summit’s theme, “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future,” highlights the commitment of both African governments and China to leverage their comparative advantages to foster industrial and socio-economic development policies and programmes for a prosperous future,” read the statement in part.
According to Hussein, President Ruto has been honored with the responsibility of co-chairing a session on “Pursuing High-Quality Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation: A Platform for Modernisation Featuring Planning, Building, and Benefiting Together” at the High-Level Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) event.
During his visit to Beijing, President Ruto will participate in several other high-profile meetings and events to further strengthen Kenya-China relations and explore new areas of collaboration.
The engagements include a meeting with President Xi Jinping to discuss strengthening bilateral ties and exploring new areas of cooperation between Kenya and China.
President Ruto will also hold bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Governments from various African countries, including Senegal and Algeria, to foster regional cooperation.
He will also attend the China-Africa Entrepreneurs Conference. The meeting will serve as a platform for African and Chinese business leaders to explore investment opportunities in sectors like infrastructure, health, manufacturing, ICT, e-mobility, agriculture, and value addition.
Further, Ruto will engage with major Chinese corporations to pitch for increased investment in Kenya’s infrastructure development, healthcare, and technology sectors.
President Ruto’s visit is anticipated to yield significant benefits for Kenya, including: strengthened strategic partnership with China: A joint commitment to building a Kenya-China community with a shared future.
The visit is also anticipated to strike agreements on support for infrastructure development, including the construction of rural roads across the country, the Nairobi Intelligent Transport System, the Bosto Dam Water Supply Project as well as phase III of the upgrading of equipment in technical and vocational training (TVET) workshops.
Other benefits would be the conclusion of discussions on new cooperation projects such as the extension and completion of SGR phases 2B and 2C (Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba), the dualling of the Nairobi Northern Bypass, among other vital infrastructure projects, and the commencement of talks on establishing a pharmaceutical park, Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Investment Protection Agreement (IPA).
China is one of Kenya’s largest trading partners with bilateral trade volumes exceeding $8 billion (KSh. 1.04 trillion) between 2022 and 2023.
Also Read: Inside President Ruto’s 63 Foreign Visits In 22 Months
