Kenya and Czech Republic in trade, investments agreement

The Czech Republic and Kenya have agreed to enhance trade and investments between the two nations. https://rb.gy/0kqrs5

Transcript

00:00 In our bilateral meeting today, we held in-depth discussions on ways of enhancing trade and investment.

00:07 And I thank Prime Minister Fiala for being accompanied with a huge delegation of business people

00:16 who have had very fruitful interactions with our own private sector

00:23 and business people under the Chamber of Commerce in our two countries.

00:30 I take this opportunity to encourage the business delegations accompanying His Excellency the Prime Minister

00:38 to explore the huge untapped investment opportunities in Kenya.

00:43 And I have also informed them that those opportunities are not limited to the 52 million people in Kenya.

00:52 They extend to the East African community with a population of 350 million people.

00:59 Those opportunities extend to the tripartite free trade area between EAC, Comesa and SADC

01:09 with a population of 750 million people.

01:12 And they extend all the way to the African continental free trade area, which is a population of 1.4 billion people.

01:22 To accelerate growth in trade and investment, we have agreed on the following steps for immediate action

01:29 that the Czech Republic consider establishing a commercial hub in Nairobi

01:34 and use Kenya's geostrategic advantage as a gateway for the broader regional and continental engagement

01:42 in terms of trade and investment.

01:45 And that we implement urgent measures to establish a business council

01:51 that will serve as a platform for bilateral private sector consultations and engagements

01:59 to be brought together by the Chamber of Commerce in Kenya and the Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic.

02:09 Following the Czech-Kenya Business Forum yesterday, attended by more than 120 companies from our two countries

02:18 and which Prime Minister Fiala graced with his presence,

02:21 I am confident that Kenya and the Czech Republic will witness higher levels of commercial and trade activities

02:30 that will spur increased investment from Czech companies into Kenya in diverse fields in our economy.

02:38 The African continental free trade area, a market as I have said of 1.3 billion people,

02:45 is currently being organized and Kenya's vantage point will afford Czech companies unimpeded access to this market.

02:55 In conjunction with Kenya's ratification of the EU Economic Partnership Agreement,

03:01 Kenya offers a compelling array of benefits unmatched in our region.

03:08 I did also take the opportunity to thank His Excellency Prime Minister for Czech's support

03:17 as we negotiated the Economic Partnership Agreement that now has been concluded

03:24 and we will be signing it off on the 17th of December

03:29 that affords Kenya, being the first country in our region, to get quota-free, duty-free access to the European market

03:41 and that this will be a leverage that we can share with our Czech counterparts

03:47 as they explore opportunities in the Kenyan space.

03:52 [END]

03:54 [END]