China picks Kenya as its continental industrial hub

NAIROBI: Kenya is set to beat Ethiopia and Tanzania as China’s preferred African industrial nerve centre owing to its reforming business environment and incentive framework.

 

A Chinese delegation on a fact-finding mission of the three countries’ industrial readiness said Kenya fits the bill for China’s ambition for an African-Chinese Co-operation model through industrial investment.

Confirming China’s intent on leveraging the development of industrial parks in Mombasa and establishing industrial zones along the Standard Gauge Railway Corridor, Lin Songtian, China’s Director-General of African Affairs, said Kenya’s enabling policies were the decisive factors.

Alluding to favourable policies under the Special Economic Zones Bill awaiting enactment, Songtian said Kenya provides the best option for an open and conducive environment for Chinese investments.

“We are confident of Kenya’s legal mechanism, a one-stop-shop and incentivised framework that will attract and retain Chinese investors as a strategic conduit to the African market and larger Chinese market,” said Songtian.

Adding that Chinese industrial investment in Kenya will help bridge the gap of balance of trade between the two countries, he said the co-operation guarantees Kenyan exporters the huge Chinese market.

Welcoming Chinese investment in industrial parks as a boost, Kenya’s Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Principal Secretary Wilson Songa, said Kenya has a 23 year head start in the development, operation and management of industrial zones ahead of Ethiopia.