Kenya should capitalise on UNCTAD

NAIROBI: This week Nairobi hosts the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It is one of the many high-profile conferences that have been held in Nairobi in the recent past.

The conferences have gone a long way in marketing Kenya as the ideal place for doing business, especially now that the world is increasingly opening up and as intercontinental trade deepens.

For Kenya, besides the boost that the tourism industry gets from such events, it is now more visible to the rest of the world for hosting successful international conferences, something we must take advantage of to market the country even more.

With over 7,000 delegates attending the conference, a much-needed shot in the arm for business people around Nairobi and the hospitality industry in terms of bed occupancy will be provided.

The conference also offers the perfect opportunity to showcase what we have while looking for markets necessary to bring in foreign exchange. And it is important in as much as it helps assuage fears that Kenya is not a safe place following the bad impression terrorist attacks gave it sometime back.

However, trade imbalances seem to the favour developed countries only and this is a matter the meeting in Nairobi ought to address.