President Uhuru Kenyatta will in November this year lead a delegation of horticultural farmers and traders to the 1st Shanghai Import Expo as the China in Kenya grip tightens.
During this period, a number of trade deals will be negotiated and sealed among which is the Sanitary and Phytosanitary deal between Kenya and China that will open doors for over 40 per cent of Kenya’s fresh produce including avocado, mangoes and cashew nuts into the expansive Chinese market.
The agreement will also allow for the export of stevia, a sweetener largely grown in the Rift Valley, into the Chinese market.
Another expected outcome of the President’s visit to Shanghai will be the signing of an MOU for the establishment of a trade negotiation working group.
The group’s mandate will be to negotiate trade tariffs especially on Kenya’s tea and coffee exports to China and exploring the additional market for the country’s cash crops.
At a meeting chaired by Kenyatta at State House Nairobi and also attended by Deputy President William Ruto, the Cabinet also approved guidelines for the implementation of the affordable housing programme which is a key plank of the Big 4 Agenda.
The guidelines address aspects such as financing, costing and design of the houses to ensure quality and affordability as well as the establishment of a level playing field for both public and private sector investors.
At the same time, Cabinet approved a memorandum from the Ministry of Youth and Public Service seeking to submit the National Youth Service Bill 2018 to the National Assembly.
The Bill contains a raft of measures aimed at strengthening the operations and management of the NYS among them the transformation of the department into a body corporate.
Further, the Bill seeks to align NYS to aspirations of the government’s Big 4 Agenda and Kenya’s Vision 2030 development blueprint.
It also aims at fixing the weaknesses identified in its structure which are a hindrance to the achievement of the agency’s mandate by addressing loopholes in the governance and monitoring aspects so as to curb corruption and other related malpractices.
In the same sitting, Cabinet further approved the establishment of the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA) by merging the Export Promotion Council (EPC) and the Brand Kenya Board.
The establishment of KEPROBA is in line with an earlier Presidential directive on the key objective of the integrated National Exports Development and Promotion Strategy (NEDPS) which the government launched mid this year and aims at growing Kenya’s exports at an average rate of 25 per cent per annum.
KEPROBA will be a one-stop shop for all trade promotion and branding activities covering local as well as regional and international engagements so as to eliminate duplication and hence create a uniform image of Kenya.
Further, the Cabinet approved a Memorandum by National Treasury for the setup of a framework for Issuance of Government Support Measures which include Letters of Support, Letters of Comfort, Undertakings and Project-Based Guarantees.
The policy framework is aimed at standardising meaning, treatment and forms of Government Support Measures. The framework will also establish a clear and predictable process for the management of Government project-linked financial risks and liabilities while at the same time improving confidence in decision making as well as eliminating ambiguity in the application and issuance process.
The new measures are aimed at promoting the deployment of Private Public Partnerships as a preferred approach in the financing and delivery of projects in the country.
This will go a long way in the implementation of key projects off-budget in line with the President’s recent pronouncements.
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