Kenya and Jamaica pledge to deepen trade ties

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Direct flights between Nairobi and Kingston are part of the agenda President Uhuru Kenyatta is pursuing on his four-day state visit to Jamaica.

On Monday, Mr Kenyatta and Prime Minister Andrew Holness said air transport between Kenya and the Caribbean parliamentary monarchy will deepen business, political and cultural ties.

“Our national carrier now has scheduled direct flights from Nairobi to New York but we would like to see flights flying from the East Coast to the West Coast of Africa and directly to Jamaica, and through Jamaica to the rest of the Caribbean as a true way of deepening our partnership,” Mr Kenyatta said when he met Mr Holness at his office.

TRADE

He challenged Jamaica to take advantage of Kenya’s strategic geographic and economic position in Eastern Africa for the benefit the people of the two countries.

“We need to deepen our trade because by so doing we also take our people-to-people relations to the next level,” he said.


“Kenya is today one of the largest and one of the most diversified economies on the African continent.”

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of pacts, including MoUs on technical cooperation in tourism and in the fields of sports, culture and heritage.

A framework on political cooperation between the two governments was also inked.

ACP SUMMIT

Kenya will host the next African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) states summit at the end of the year and Mr Holness is among leaders expected to visit.

Mr Kenyatta said Kenya is a strong supporter of the South-South Cooperation arrangements within the ACP states framework and assured his host that his administration will continue pushing for the conclusion of a successor agreement ahead of the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in February of next year.

As part of the signed agreement, the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, which is based at the University of West Indies, will open its first satellite centre in Nairobi and will be based at the University of Nairobi.

SPORTS

Kenya and Jamaica will also cooperate in sports development especially in athletics, a sport in which the two countries are global champions, with Kenya leading in medium and long races and Jamaica leading in short distance races.

On Tuesday, President Kenyatta will be the chief guest at the 67th Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon and the 57th Jamaica Independence Day.

Mr Kenyatta, who is accompanied by First Lady Margaret and Cabinet secretaries Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs), Amina Mohamed (Sports) and Najib Balala (Tourism), is among a new generation of African leaders who are promoting Pan-Africanism and integration to push forward the prosperity of all Africans.

On Sunday, he was received by his host Prime Minister Holness and Governor General Patrick Allen in a colourful state reception that included a full guard of honour mounted by the Jamaica Defence Forces and a 21-gun salute upon his landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.