Kenya wins big as it signs 24 MoUs with China

The MoUs focus on bolstering a myriad of sectors, among them education, manufacturing, the blue economy, digital innovation, technology, and transport.

On blue economy, the two nations signed an MoU to enhance cooperation in fisheries and marine affairs aligned with the World Trade Organization (WTO) subsidies agreement.

Similarly, they signed an MoU on the protocol on aquatic exports to ensure hygiene and traceability of edible aquatic animal exports to China and another on blue economy cooperation to support sustainable marine investment and bilateral development.

On transport, a cooperation plan on Belt and Road Initiative MoU was signed to expand collaboration in infrastructure, trade, education, and cultural exchange.

Another MoU, the framework agreement on transport, will support the Nairobi Intelligent Transport System and junction upgrades (Phase III).

An MoU on the railway sector was also inked to covers law reforms, infrastructure, rolling stock, and multimodal transport.

To foster enhanced education systems, an MoU on Vocational Education was inked to promote technical training, joint standards, and digital skills cooperation.

Other MoUs include a Cooperation Agreement with Xinhua News to create news exchange and media partnership, another on building climate action and nurturing the digital economy.

President Ruto's visit also led to the signing of a multibillion-shilling agreement with China.

According to documents seen by Citizen Digital, Kenya secured over Ksh.126 billion to actualize key projects under the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

This will see $0.32B (Ksh.41.4B) secured for manufacturing, $0.43B (Ksh.55.6B) for agriculture and $0.23B (Ksh.29.7B)

Africa is a key focus of President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in 2013 to extend China's geopolitical and economic influence through global infrastructure development.

Kenya has been a key BRI recipient, and Nairobi has taken a slew of loans from China to finance infrastructure construction projects that have made China the east African nation's biggest bilateral lender.

Among the projects, China is helping fund the development of a modern railway line from the port of Mombasa into the hinterland.