INDIA, KENYA JOINT TRADE COMMITTEE AND JBC MEET

November 12, 1999

The Third Session of India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee (JTC) and the Fourth Session of the India-Kenya Joint Business Council (JBC) opened at the Ministerial level here today, underlining the desire on the part of both Kenya and India to forge closer relations in the field of trade and investment. Addressing the inaugural session, the Commerce Minister, Shri Ramakrishna Hegde, said the meeting symbolised the strong conviction on both sides to forge closer bilateral relations and said that the Trade Agreement between India and Kenya, which laid down the framework of bilateral cooperation, needed operationalisation to realise the agreed objectives. Shri Hegde suggested that specific areas should be identified and measures initiatited to expand the existing areas of trade and investment as also to explore new avenues for cooperation, adding that trade between the two countries could increase manifold based on the complimentarities of the two economies. Further, India had a large and dependable source of appropriate technologies for the development of small scale industries and would be happy to share this experience with interested Kenyan enterprises, Shri Hegde said. Mr.J.J. Kamotho, Minister of Trade of Kenya, in his observations, said that Kenya valued India’s partnership in the economic development process but stressed that much more could be achieved considering the complimentarities of the two countries. He welcomed the decision by India to establish a Line of Credit amounting to US $ 5 million through the EXIM Bank of India in order to boost India’s trade with Kenya, but felt that the line of credit could be further increased to assist Kenyan industries sourcing capital goods from India. He agreed with Shri Hegde that thrust areas needed to be identified, and pointed to the vast potential of Kenya as a gateway to Africa as a whole particularly Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mr.Kamotho observed that India and Kenya ought to forge a common stand on multilateral trade matters in the WTO in view of their shared perceptions, particularly on issues in the built-in agenda and the new issues. He also said that the Indo-Kenyan trade at present was skewed greatly in India’s favour with Kenya exporting mostly industrial raw materials to India while Kenyan imports from India consisted of value-added items. He observed that the imbalance in trade needed to be corrected through various means including fuller utilisation of the existing trade and investment opportunities especially joint ventures.

The Joint Inaugural Session of JTC and JBC was also addressed by Mr.Purushottam Agrawal, Chairman Indian Section, Indi-Kenya JBC; Mr.Kassim Owango, Chairman, Kenyan Section, Kenya-India JBC; Mr.R.K.Bhatia, Indian High Commissioner in Kenya; Mr.J.K.Terer, Kenyan High Commissioner in India; and Ch.Devinder Singh, Chairman, Industrial Cables India Ltd.

There has been a marginal increase in the imports from Kenya in 1997-98 as compared to 1996-97. The major items of import from Kenya are inorganic chemicals, dyeing, tanning, colouring materials, leather and raw wool etc. It is expected that the deliberations in the ensuing JTC meeting between India and Kenya will bring understanding in appreciating and identifying the areas of mutual benefits leading to enhanced economic cooperation. There is an urgent need to look at specific areas where India’s trade with Kenya can be diversified and expanded.

 AGREED MINUTES OF INDO-KENYA JTC SIGNED

The third meeting of Indo-Kenya Joint Trade Committee was held in New Delhi on 11th and 12th November, 1998 to review the implementation of the provisions of the Trade Agreement concluded in 1981. The Indian side was led by Shri Ramakrishna Hegde, Union Minister of Commerce and the Kenyan side by Mr.John Joseph Kamotho, Minister for Trade. The discussions were conducted in a warm and cordial atmosphere reflecting the historical, close and friendly relations existing between the two countries.

According to the Agreed Minutes of Indo-Kenya JTC, signed by both the Ministers, here today, both sides reviewed the progress of bilateral trade, explored the new areas of cooperation and discussed ways and means to further augmenting trade, industrial and technical cooperation between India and Kenya. While both sides expressed satisfaction at the rising trend in bilateral trade, the Kenyan side offered that India could source or increase its existing sourcing in respect of soda ash, precious and semi-precious stones, wool, wet blue leather, wattle and pyrethrum extracts. The Indian side suggested to the Kenyan side that cost effective sourcing of Indian products in sectors such as engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals and textiles could be stepped up.

In an endeavour to boost bilateral trade between both the countries, the Committee recommended an early conclusion of a MOU in the electronics and computer software. As engineering goods constitute the prominent sector of trade between India and Kenya, the Kenyan side was informed that to further intensify trade contacts, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India for promoting exports of Indian engineering goods, projects and services have decided to shift its Johannesburg office to Nairobi shortly. The visiting side was further informed that the EEPC was considering a proposal to set up a warehouse in Mombassa. The potential areas identified for promoting joint ventures are small scale projects, production of machine tools, setting up of mini cement plants, cotton ginning and mini sugar plants etc.

Both sides noted the immense potentiality for cooperation in the small scale sector. The National Small Scale Industries Corporation briefed on the initiatives made by them in the sector with particular reference to the MOUs signed with Kenyan Industrial Estate and KIRDI and exhorted the Kenyan side for extending similar understandings to the private sector. As the economies of India and Kenya are predominantly agricultural in nature, the Kenyan side expressed the desire to have cooperation in harnessing the water resource for irrigation. The Kenyan side was also briefed on India’s capabilities in the development of telecommunications and it was well appreciated by the visiting party. The Committee also reviewed in detail the utilisation of the existing Lines of Credit being extended to Kenya. The Kenyan side requested that the Lines of Credit proposed between Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and PTA Bank be concluded as early as possible.

Concluding the discussions, both sides emphasised the need for regular meetings of Joint Trade Committee and agreed that the next meeting should be held in 1999 in Nairobi.

KENYAN MINISTER OF TRADE CALLS ON SIKANDER BAKHT

Mr.J.J.Kamotho, Minister of Trade, Kenya, called on Shri Sikander Bakht, Union Minister of Industry here today.

Welcoming Mr.Kamotho , Shri Bakht said that eventhough there is a lot of cooperation between the countries at the international level, the interaction in the areas of trade and industry needs to be strengthened. The Minister said that liberalisation in India is not only continuing, it is getting accelerated. He also welcomed Kenyan investment in India as well as joint-venture projects.