NAIROBI – Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has said UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is set to visit Kenya in “the next few weeks”.
Speaking at NSSF Building during the handover ceremony of the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry to CS Rebecca Miano, CS Kuria said President William Ruto is also set to travel to Saudi Arabia.
Kuria was enumerating the country-to-country investment partnerships the government has made during his 11-months tenure as Trade minister with among other countries Indonesia, whose President Joko Widodo visited Kenya in August, Qatar and South Korea, where the President visited.
Salem Ibrahim bin Ahmed Mohamed Al-Naqbi, was on August 14 sworn in as UAE’s ambassador-designate to Kenya and presented his credentials to President William Ruto on September 1 ahead of the visit.
The visit comes after the opaque takeover of 60% of shares in Telkom Kenya from London-based private equity firm Helios by UAE-based Infrastructure Corporation of Africa LLC.
While the National Treasury in a statement on October 4 said the move was done after a competitive process, no details of the transactions were provided.
“Government of Kenya (GoK) will work with Jamhuri/Helios to transfer their 60 percent shareholding directly to ICA. This process will inevitably require rescinding of the transaction documents already signed between GoK and Jamhuri/Helios, among other necessary actions,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njuguna Ndung’u.
Prof Ndung’u added that the UAE firm will inject capital into Telkom to fund critical infrastructure and the overall upgrade of the company’s capabilities and settle some of the outstanding liabilities.
The move followed the rescission by the Cabinet of the controversial Sh6 billion deal between the previous Uhuru Kenyatta administration and Helios for the nationalisation of Telkom, citing “governance challenges”. The matter is under parliamentary inquiry.
TRADE
In October last year, Kenya and UAE committed to expanding trade ties by fast-tracking trade agreements and set up a joint panel to explore investment partnerships in oil and gas, technology transfer, agriculture, healthcare as well as development of Special Economic Zones.
This emerged following talks between President Ruto and UAE’s Federal Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Shakhboot Al Nahyan at State House, Nairobi.
Earlier in July, the two states agreed to start negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, and then Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development Betty Maina signed a statement in Nairobi announcing plans to begin holding talks.
The comprehensive agreement would be the first with an African nation, and was expected to boost UAE-Kenya non-oil trade, which grew to $2.3 billion in 2021.
“There is tremendous opportunity for closer economic integration between our two nations, especially in agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, technology and renewable energy,” said Dr Al Zeyoudi.
Through the agreement, the two states aim to remove trade barriers on a wide range of goods and services, creating opportunities for importers and exporters, and enable Kenyan companies to benefit from the UAE’s geographic and logistical position.
The deal is expected to be signed during the visit.
