BY OPCS PRESS SERVICE
Africa must work on building its global capacity and partnerships that will create opportunities for trade, investment, and domestic resource generation to spur economic growth.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said the era of depending on foreign aid is gone, and African nations must become more self-sufficient.
Mudavadi noted that the evolving global geo-political, geo-economic, and geo-technological dynamics show a clear move away from aid dependency.
“It is upon us, individually and collectively as a continent, to take more seriously any opportunities of consolidating trade and other investment arrangements with our trade partners,” he said.
He urged African leaders to make “immediate, radical, and aggressive policy changes” to generate resources for critical programs or risk being left behind.
“This is critical for Kenya and critical for Africa, bearing in mind that we are seeing a lot of volatility in the trading arena. Africa requires predictable, reliable, and consistent trade arrangements with its partners,” noted Mudavadi.
Mudavadi was speaking when he graced the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China at the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi.
He noted that partners like China are important players in global affairs, China being the second-largest global economy.
He acknowledged the success stories from China and other developed nations to be an eye-opener for Kenya and Africa to leverage opportunities presented by these trade partners.
“Through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) arrangement, great strides have been made, spanning aspects of infrastructure, broad governance issues, and technological transfer between China and the African continent. This relationship has definitely yielded positive results,” said Mudavadi.
He added: “China is now Africa’s largest bilateral development partner, providing African countries with necessary resources for the development of priority sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, health, manufacturing, mining, energy, and housing, among others. Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased significantly over the last two decades, supporting Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in these key sectors. This demonstrates the critical role of FOCAC in advancing the Africa-China partnership for Africa’s development.”
Mudavadi, also the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, revealed that owing to President William Ruto’s state visit to China earlier this year, Kenya is making strides in advancing 21 key bilateral agreements reached on that occasion.
He noted that Kenya is pursuing critical projects among them the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to Kisumu and the Malaba border, and the dualling of the Rironi-Mau Summit to Malaba road, whose completion will open up and boost Kenya’s trade, making it a critical regional business and investment hub.
“Our target is to enhance the efficiency of trade between us and our neighbour Uganda and open up opportunities within the Great Lakes region and beyond,” he said.
“As of today, something important is going on in China. Kenya has a delegation which is in deep negotiation, so that within the framework arrangement of FOCAC, and the pronouncement about China offering Africa the Free Preferential Trade Agreement for products in Africa, Kenya is defending its portion of the arrangement with the Chinese government. We hope that in a few weeks’ time, we shall be able to report progress, indicating that we have struck a deal within the free preferential trade agreement framework,” revealed the Prime CS.
Mudavadi also noted that within the emerging global dynamics in different areas, the place for multilateralism is becoming even more important and should not be weakened or undermined.
He said that with China’s position on multilateralism and being a dependable partner and strong voice in advancing the principles of the Global South, Kenya stands ready to further deepen its ties and work with China in advancing and accelerating a “Shared Future” of strategic significance in promoting multilateralism and enhancing cooperation for the mutual benefit of the citizens of the two countries.
“A strong message that will continue to send the signal that the absence of multilateralism is dangerous for humanity is extremely essential at this point in time. We will not be able to deal with the conflicts that we see if we weaken and undermine multilateralism. The position taken to consolidate multilateralism is a shared position,” he emphasized.
