Kenya plans to use Singapore’s strategic location in South East Asia as a gateway to its products.
President William Ruto said the move was guided by the government’s commitment to expanding lucrative markets for its agricultural produce.
He said South Asia, made up of 10 countries and with a population of approximately 670 million, offers Kenya a “unique and massive” market to sell its goods.
He invited Singapore’s private sector to invest in Kenya’s under-exploited transport and logistics sectors.
“This will check the low trade volumes and scale up our investments, thereby reducing the current trade deficit with Singapore,” the President said.
He made the remarks in the company of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday at State House in Nairobi.
Earlier, the two leaders held bilateral talks and witnessed the signing of MoUs on ICT, climate change and skills development.
President Ruto said the ICT agreement will facilitate cooperation on cybersecurity, digitisation of government services and ICT capacity building.
He said the MoU on skills development will facilitate collaboration in human resource capacity building for civil servants and students.
The Prime Minister said the signing of a climate change pact will build a collective action to deal with the “greatest existential threat to mankind”.
He appreciated the deep and warm relations that Singapore enjoys with Kenya.
“Our ties have been growing. We will further this by pursuing more economic opportunities that will stimulate our shared prosperity,” Loong said.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Attorney General Justin Muturi were present.
Others were Cabinet secretaries Alfred Mutua (Foreign Affairs), Eliud Owalo (ICT and Digital Economy), Aisha Jumwa (Public Service) and Soipan Tuya (Environment).
