The KICC building in Nairobi where the China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation Exhibition.[ photo/Kenyans.co.ke]
Kenya will in December this year hold its first inaugural Chinese Industrial Fair in Africa that will be attended by top 50 Chinese companies, who will be eying on lucrative transport and infrastructure projects in the country.
The Kenya’s Ambassador to China Michael Kinyanjui said on Monday in a statement that already 56 mega-enterprises from 18 Chinese provinces have confirmed their attendance and they will be leading their delegations in displaying its equipments.
The project is dubbed China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation Exhibition and it will be held between December 13 and 16 at Nairobi’s KICC ground.
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) vice chairman Chen Zhou noted that the exhibition will enable the Chinese firms launch an avenue for investments on the regional markets.
“The expo will provide a platform for the exchange and intensified cooperation that will encourage Chinese enterprises to venture into Africa thereby accelerating the African industrialisation agenda,” he said.
China is a key investor to Kenyan market and this has seen it undertake the construction of the Sh 327 billion 470 kilometre phase one of standard gaged railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.
Chinese contractors have also been involved in geothermal drilling activities, road construction, youth training, dam construction and construction of houses for various private real estate firms in the country.
Mr Zhou also said that a memorandum of understanding on the trade cooperation and investment promotion institutions in Kenya, Mozambique and Ethiopia will be signed by CCPIT during the expo so as to boost the trading ties.
The event will be expected to attract 3000 government officials and enterprise representatives from various countries in Africa.