{ Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Amina Mohammed held talks Sunday with visiting German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier on promoting ties.}<\/p>\n
“Kenya is a country that has continued to promote regional cooperation,” Steinmeier told reporters.<\/p>\n
He cited the East African Community (EAC) summit hosted by Kenya on Friday.<\/p>\n
“We are interested to hear more about all those areas in which it has been possible to initiate cooperation at a regional level,” said Steinmeier.<\/p>\n
The summit saw Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta handing over the chairmanship of the five-member regional bloc to his Tanzanian counterpart, Jakaya Kikwete.<\/p>\n
He noted that intra-EAC trade grew from $3.5 billion in 2009 to about $5.8 billion in 2013.<\/p>\n
Steinmeier said Germany was more than happy to support Kenya in ensuring regional cooperation.<\/p>\n
“It is not only the area of regional cooperation that we have an interest in, we also want to make sure that our bilateral relationship continues to flourish,” he asserted.<\/p>\n
“I have come here with quite an impressive delegation representing a broad spectrum of our society and also representatives from our business community,” added the top diplomat.<\/p>\n
His Kenyan counterpart, for her part, asserted that development cooperation between the two countries has continued to grow over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n
“Germany has promised to donate an estimated 300 million euros (roughly $341 million) to support implementation of Kenya\u2019s Medium Term Plan II under Vision 2030 for the period 2014 \u2013 2017,” she said.<\/p>\n
The first Medium Term Plan was implemented between 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n
This second plan outlines projects which the government intends to implement between 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\n
Mohamed recalled that Germany had committed, between 2010 and 2013, funds amounting to 390.3 million euros (roughly $443 million) towards Kenya’s development agenda.<\/p>\n
The minister, meanwhile, said she had discussed with Steinmeier opportunities that will take both countries relations to the next level.<\/p>\n
“We discussed opportunities in agro-processing,” she said.<\/p>\n
Mohammed noted that bilateral trade has increased in the past six years.<\/p>\n
“Kenya’s exports rose from 6.2 billion Kenyan shillings (roughly $35 million) in 2008 to 8.2 billion (roughly $89.7 million) in 2013 while imports from Germany have risen, over the same period, from 27 billion shillings (roughly $295 million) to 37 billion (roughly $405 million),” she said.<\/p>\n
This, the minister added, has resulted in a trade deficit of 29.2 billion shillings (roughly $317 million) in 2013.<\/p>\n
“This gap could be addressed through export of more value added goods from Kenya,” Mohammed added.<\/p>\n
She noted that market prices rise along the value chain from raw to finished products.<\/p>\n
“The export of finished products will, therefore, help in narrowing the trade value gap between our two countries,” expected the minister.<\/p>\n
“Moving up the value chain in coffee exports will greatly help improve our trade relations,” she added.<\/p>\n
Mohammed said Germany is Kenya’s single most important coffee destination and absorbs the bulk of green and raw coffee that the country exports globally.<\/p>\n
{{World Bulletin}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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