STATEMENT BY SECRETARY COMMUNICATION AND STATE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON ON PRESIDENT KENYATTAS VISIT TO RUSSIA AND CHINA

Tomorrow, President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will start a visit to Russia and China as part of initiatives by the Jubilee government to grow new markets that focus on The East. In Moscow, President Kenyatta will hold discussions with business leaders to be dominated by Kenyas emerging role as a new frontier for oil and gas and mineral wealth. It will also feature Kenyas drive to open new markets for its traditional exports such as coffee, tea, and fresh produce. Discussions will also focus on new investment areas, with growth in innovation and technology offering phenomenal opportunities. President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will also visit Kenyas athletics team at the World Championships. The President and First Lady have been very impressed by the performance of our men and women so far and will be on hand to personally wish them more gold. He hopes to see Kenya add to its gold tally. The President will make his first official visit to China on 19 th-23rdat the invitation of the Government of the Peoples Republic of China. The China visit will be dominated by discussions on business and investment. A business delegation of more than 60 people who are paying their own bills in full will be at hand to join the President on this leg of his tour. It includes some of the most prominent personalities in industry. The delegation also has 5 governors and some members of both Houses of Parliament. China is an important trading partner and has massive investments in our country, especially in infrastructure, telephony and technology. While in China, President Kenyatta will sign framework agreements on a power transmission project for our nations capital Nairobi. He will also sign other agreements on economic and technical cooperation. The President will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding on environment protection between the Ministry of Environment Protection of the Peoples Republic of China and Kenyas Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.

President Kenyatta will also review a number of projects under discussion between Kenya and China key among them the $2.5 billion construction of a Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Malaba and the $1.755 billion High Grand Multi-Purpose Dam project, which is key to regional development plans. The President and First Lady will also visit several Chinese regions to witness the latest developments in agribusiness, as well as technology. They include the city of Shenzhen, globally known for its electronics. The visits to Russia and China are important to Kenya in the context of the policy to look East, which President Kenyatta takes to mean a focus on opening new markets or deepening existing relations in the traditional Indian Ocean Rim, other countries such as Australia and Singapore, and the emerging constituency of powers from developing countries known as BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On his way back from China, President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will briefly stop over in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where the President will have further discussions on promoting Kenyas trade agenda. Manoah Esipisu 14 August 2013