200 Chinese entrepreneurs troop in to scout for business opportunities

Governor of Guangdong Province in China, Zhu Xiaodan (left) with Ministry of Labour and East African Community Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie (centre) and Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i at the China (Guangdong) Kenya Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference on Friday. [PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/STANDARD]

Kenya played host to over 200 businesses from China's Guangdong Province in what is a clear intent by Beijing to tighten its grip on the Kenyan market.

The high-powered business delegation led by Guangdong's Governor Zhu Xiaodan comes barely a week after Kenya hosted over 10,000 Japanese delegates in one of the largest international conferences in the country. The China-Kenya Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference was described by Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Dr Liu Xianfa as 'the largest' China-Kenya investment forum.

Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) and Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) partnered with the government of Guangdong in a bid to enhance investments and co-operation in infrastructure, tourism and agriculture.

Most of Kenya's imports from China come from Guangdong Province. Its capital city is Guangzhou, to where national carrier Kenya Airways has a direct flight. Guangdong's main exports include electric and electronic technology products, computer and communication gadgets.

Cabinet Secretary Ministry of East African Community, Labour and Social Protection Phyllis Kandie said the Government would ensure trade facilitation, create a permissive legal and regulatory environment and build infrastructure for ease of investment.

And with Kenya having discovered oil deposits, she asked the Chinese companies to consider joint-ventures or public private partnership to tap into this lucrative area. The governor of Guangdong said that he would push for increased tourist arrivals from his province to Kenya. "Guangdong has the largest areas of out-bound tourists. We would like to explore the tourism opportunities in Kenya," said the Governor.

In 2015, most of the country's imports came from China. Imports from the Asian nation expanded significantly to Sh321 billion last year from Sh249 billion in 2014 as contractors of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) preferred railway construction materials from their home-country, according to the Economic Survey 2016.

In June this year, imports from China were valued at Sh32.5 billion up from Sh27.2 billion in the same period in 2015.

However, Kenya's exports to China were not as impressive. Compared to the massive imports from China, exports to the Asian Pacific country were valued at Sh8.4 billion. And whereas Kenya imported most of its goods from China in the June, the country did not feature among the country's major export destinations in the period under review.

This trade imbalance has been a source of concern with the World Bank in one of its reports noting that Kenya might be getting a 'raw deal' from Beijing. The Chinese have also been criticized for not doing enough to transfer skills to locals. Much of Chinese criticism has centred on localisation, with some people feeling that Chinese firms have not done enough to transfer skills to Kenyans. News that there was imported fish from China raised a storm as it crippled those who rely on fish farming.

China's dominance in Kenya and Africa has since drawn the attention of other economic power-houses. Last week, Japan pitched camp in Kenya pushing for increased engagement with Kenya during the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI).

And now the province of Guangdong would also like to benefit from this windfall. From 2010 to 2015, Guangdong's trade volume with Kenya grew from $380 million (Sh38.4 billion) to $1.81 billion (Sh182 billion), with an annual growth rate of 36.6 per cent. This accounts for 30.1 per cent of the total imports and exports of the two countries.

The conference will concentrate on electronic information, household appliances, logistics, textile, building materials and agriculture.