Ties with China are wide-ranging: Kenyatta

President hopes to learn from beijing on growth

The strong relationship between China and Kenya is based on a wide range of partnerships rather than mineral or natural resources, says Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, adding that it could be a model for China-Africa relations.

"There has been a major accusation that China is only interested in exploiting the mineral resources of the African continent. But China and Kenya have a strong and robust relationship, and it's not based on mineral resources exploitation, but based on investment, manufacturing and infrastructure development," Kenyatta told China Daily in an exclusive interview before his first state visit outside Africa after taking office in April.

Kenyatta is scheduled to visit China from Aug 18 to 23.

"There are indeed many other areas where we have seen a great deal of benefits from our relationship with China, and also there are some areas we need to strengthen, as we know China is slowly becoming one of our largest investment and development partners," Kenyatta says.

He adds that China is critical to Kenya's trade and investment, and he will cement the already good ties with China during his visit.

Trade volume between the two countries reached $2.84 billion last year, up 55 percent from 2010, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

"We also want to get firsthand development experience from China, which is the source of success as the second-largest economy," Kenyatta says.

Both countries embraced new leadership this year, and Kenyatta said he and Chinese leaders are facing common challenges. "China and Kenya should jointly drive the international agenda and play a bigger role on the international platform to represent developing countries."

"We have a lot in common in history and could learn from each other," he says.

Kenyatta says that his country has a lot to learn from China, especially the model of economic growth, which has been based on the development of infrastructure, manufacturing and fully utilizing the potential of youth.

"We have rapidly and incredibly growing economic muscles, and Kenya could learn from that particular model," he says, adding that Kenya has become an economic service hub for the Eastern African Community, an organization comprising five nations.

He also expects his visit to further expand cooperation in tourism marketing, as well as encourage more Chinese manufacturers to set up plants in his country.

He says he wants to diversify his country's tourism market to attract more Chinese.

About 41,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya last year, an increase of 10.4 percent compared with 2011, according to the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism.

"Traditionally, our tourism was looking toward western Europe and the United States. But we are now really moving very fast to diversify our products," he says.

"As we continue to encourage the visits from traditional markets, we also recognize the growing importance of China, India, South Africa and Brazil, as Kenya's tourism resources are something they were not familiar with previously."

The country is prepared to welcome more Chinese to travel to Kenya and Africa, Kenyatta added.

"We have a number of programs running in the universities training people to speak Mandarin," he says.

He adds that Kenya provides not only wildlife - traditionally known as the major part of Kenyan tourism - but also a rich cultural heritage for international visitors.

Kenya and other East African Community member countries are trying to offer one-stop visas to attract international tourists, he says.

"We have taken action and had discussions with our partners in the EAC on the prospects of developing a (one-stop) visa that could enable tourists who are applying to go to Kenya to also go to Rwanda, Uganda and other eastern African countries," said Kenyatta.

He says he hopes that the visa could be issued as early as next year.

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/16/2013 page7)