President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked US investors to\nmake Kenya their investment destination of choice in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President said his Administration’s Big 4\nAgenda, particularly the manufacturing component where the Government’s plan is\nto lift the sector’s contribution to the economy from the current 8.4 percent\nof GDP to 15 percent by 2022, offers limitless investment opportunities for US\ncompanies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The sector (manufacturing) presents major\nopportunities for local and foreign investors in areas such as agro-processing\nthrough value addition in key value chains such as textiles and leather, the\nmaritime sector, construction, iron and steel, oil and gas,” the President\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Kenyatta who spoke On September\n24, 2019 at a private sector forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce and\nattended by tens of top executives from leading US multinationals said Kenya is\nseeking sustainable business partnerships with American corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As we deepen the relationship between Kenya\nand the United States, it is partnerships with corporations such as the ones\nyou represent, which drive and sustain the relationship,” the President\ntold the executives led by Scott Eisner, President of the US-Africa Business\nCenter who is also the Senior Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alongside manufacturing, the President said food and\nnutrition security, affordable housing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) are\nother priority sectors with huge investment potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Kenyatta said his administration’s target\nof constructing 500,000 affordable housing units is on course and rallied the\nAmerican companies to channel their resources into the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“More than half of the funding for this program\n(housing) will be raised from private sector sources. We will also be seeking\ninvestments in alternative building materials and technologies,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On UHC, the President called for partnerships\nespecially in the supply of specialized medical equipment, establishment of\npharmaceutical companies, upgrading and management of health facilities, and\nimplementation of innovative health financing options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides the four priority areas, the President\ninvited the investors to explore opportunities in ICTs, infrastructure, tourism\nand the blue economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He advised the American business community to pay\nparticular attention to Kenya’s financial sector where the country is a renown\nfor its world class mobile money solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The digital finance ecosystem has evolved to\nprovide additional services including insurance, utility payments, pensions,\nand issuance of government bonds in small denominations, accessible to the\npublic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Significant investment and growth\nopportunities continue to exist in this dynamic and evolving sector,”\nPresident Kenyatta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President noted with satisfaction the steady\nrise in the number of American companies setting up business in Kenya in recent\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am very pleased to note that since my\nengagement with the business community this time last year, a number of\n(American) companies have entered the Kenyan market and opened offices in\nKenya,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Kenyatta who led a strong Kenyan\ndelegation that included Governor Lee Kinyanjui of Nakuru County welcomed the\nUS investors to Kenya and assured them of the government’s full support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We seek to ensure that only will your\nbusinesses thrive but that you will contribute to Kenya\u2019s development through\njob creation, resource and technology transfer,” the President assured the\nAmerican corporate leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the Kenyan economy is robust and that his\nadministration continues to progressively implement policy, market and\ninfrastructure reforms that guarantee a thriving business environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For the companies that are yet to invest in\nKenya, I encourage you to engage with your counterparts who are already working\nin Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They will assure you that in Kenya, you will\nfind a vibrant economy growing at about 6 percent per year, a labour force that\nis well educated and entrepreneurial, a supportive business investment\nenvironment and a good transport and ICT infrastructure,” the President\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Head of State listed the\nMombasa-Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway line and the new Lamu Port as\nsome of the mega infrastructure projects implemented by his administration to\nenhance the business environment in the East African nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, President Kenyatta held separate bilateral\ntalks with the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Souza and the Prime\nMinister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen on the sidelines of the ongoing United\nNations General Assembly in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President and the two leaders discussed matters\nof mutual interest between Kenya and their respective countries among them\ntrade, investments and people-to-people interactions as well as Kenya’s bid for\na non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the period 2021 to 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked US investors to make Kenya their investment destination of choice in Africa. The President said his Administration’s Big 4 Agenda, particularly the manufacturing component where the Government’s plan is to lift the sector’s contribution to the economy from the current 8.4 percent of GDP to 15 percent by 2022, offers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18389,"featured_media":10169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[657,78,3665],"class_list":["post-12689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-and-govt","tag-president-uhuru-kenyatta","tag-uhuru-kenyatta","tag-un-security-council"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblaze.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}