Kenya and South Africa Strengthen Trade Relations

Dr Chris Kiptoo,Principal Secretary, Department of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Kenya, met with Lionel October, Director-General, Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa

Kenya and South Africa Strengthen Trade Relations

By African Review
Published May 18, 2018

Lionel October undertook to host the first ever Kenya-South African Trade Week in South Africa in October 2018 and to also share a list of the top 40 investment projects in South Africa that Kenyan businesses can invest in. South Africa and Kenya are committed to working together in matters touching on trade and investment.

Already, the two countries are preparing for the 6th Session of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) to be held in Kenya’s Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa in September 2018.

This commitment was agreed between Lionel October, South Africa’s Director-General of the Department of Trade and Industry, and Dr Chris Kiptoo, Kenya’s Principal Secretary for the State Department of Trade in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, during a bilateral meeting that was held on the margins of the two-day Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum on May 6, 2018.

October undertook to host the first ever Kenya-South African Trade Week in South Africa in October 2018 and to also share a list of the top 40 investment projects in South Africa that Kenyan businesses can invest in.

Dr Chris Kiptoo,Principal Secretary, Department of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Kenya, met with Lionel October, Director-General, Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa “The latter is in reciprocation to the Kenyan State Department of Trade as having already shared with us a list of bankable investment projects in Kenya last year. Trade Invest Africa (TIA) will also facilitate engagements between Kenya and the Invest South Africa (InvestSA) division on identified investment projects in South Africa,” said October.

The meeting agreed on the following action plan on trade and investment activities between the countries:

South Africa to lead an outward trade and investment mission to Kenya by the end of May 2018
South Africa to undertake a project-specific mission to Kenya focussing on the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor projects (LAPSSET)
There was an agreement that the 6th Session of the Joint Trade Committee that will be held on 27-29 August 2018 in Mombasa, Kenya be elevated to ministerial level at the appropriate time.