The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has asked UK investors to exploit opportunities in Kenya for enhanced cooperation in the advancement of doing business. KNCCI president Richard Ngatia on Tuesday said there exist many opportunities in agriculture, energy, infrastructure and transport sectors.He said the sectors offer huge potential for Foreign Direct Investments and public-private partnerships.He spoke in London during the UK-Kenya Business Forum on behalf of the Kenya Business Community.
The government is currently focused on the construction of the Nairobi Expressway alongside the Bus Rapid Transit system, two projects that are expected to significantly decongest Nairobi.There is also the affordable housing programme aimed at facilitating the ownership of decent housing for those in low and middle-income brackets who are unable to own decent homes due to the prohibitive land and construction costs.
Ngatia said the country was ripe for international investors.“We invite more UK companies and investors in key industries and export programmes through the development of industrial parks, establishment of special economic zones in the areas of manufacturing, textiles and leather and automobile assembling initiatives. Like the private sector, we are open to trade cooperation and collaboration. The UK is, has been and will continue to be a great market for Kenya’s products,” Ngatia said.During his inaugural speech in the official opening of the forum, UK Prime Minister Borris Johnson said mutually beneficial partnerships were the way to go.“But rather than being arranged on extraordinarily one-sided terms and delivered by a vast imported workforce, without wishing to cast aspersions on any other potential partner, it was a sustainable deal that created jobs for ordinary Kenyans now and in the future.
He added, “And it was made all the easier for British businesses to work and trade with their Kenyan counterparts and vice-versa. I’m told that probably partly as a result of what is going on in Mombasa half of all the tea drunk in the UK comes to us from Kenya. Think of that. Britain without a nice cup of tea is barely worth thinking about, and that means Britain without Kenya is barely worth thinking about.”
