National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has urged Serbian businessmen to take advantage of Nairobi's historic good relations with Belgrade and consider making a direct investment in the country.
Speaking on when he met the Serbian National Chamber of Commerce led by Jelena Jovanovic, Muturi decried that huge opportunities for investment have been lost in the past, most probably because the two nations have not been keen to explore what trade opportunities exist in their respective countries.
"Trade between Kenya and Serbia has remained minimal despite our traditionally very cordial relations. I am therefore glad that we're having this meeting, and I wish to extend an invitation to you to consider making a direct investment in our country," he said.
He further informed the captains of business in Belgrade that opportunities abound for investment given the incentives the country offers to investors who choose to set up industries in Special Economic Zones and the Export Processing Zones.
The regulatory framework for this preferential trade arrangement has already been enacted by Parliament.
Outlining the government's current focus on Food Security, Manufacturing and Universal Health Care; all areas that Serbia specialises on, Muturi undertook to liaise with the Ministry of Trade in Nairobi, the Kenya Chamber of Commerce and the Kenyan Embassy in Paris (which covers Serbia) to hasten facilitation for potential investors.
The Kenyan delegation which is on a four-day official visit on the invitation of the Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, H.E. Maja Gojkovic, also heard of Serbia's exploits in the ICT sector especially in data management and biometrics.
The ICT representatives from the sector who attended the meeting expressed interest in supporting Kenya to develop the Data Protection regulatory framework, even as the country embraces a digital shift towards public documentation and information management.
A bill on Data Protection is currently under consideration by the National Assembly.
The Speaker's delegation made a familiarization tour of Energoprojekt Entel, a leading energy and information and communication technologies company in Serbia and the Eastern Europe region, and Vlatacom Institute a leading international security systems company based in Belgrade.
Muturi's visit which closely follows Speaker Gojkovic's visit to Nairobi, is the first high-level visit by a senior Kenyan government official to Belgrade.
The exchange of visits by the two Speakers has aroused optimism that the flourishing ties between the two countries will deliver great dividends going forward.
