President Uhuru Kenyatta with Sudan's envoy to Kenya.[Photo/PSCU]
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday sought deeper economic cooperation with Sudan to boost production of lower-cost sugar and expand Kenya’s tea exports to the Arab nation.
Speaking when he met Kamal Ismael, special envoy of President al-Bashir, who paid him a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi yesterday, the Head of State said Kenya was eager to learn from Sudan’s sugar production technology that has made the country one of the lowest-cost producers in the world.
He also said Kenya could learn from Sudan’s oil contracting and extraction arrangements, as it nears commercial production of its oils from the Lokichar fields in northern Kenya.
The envoy was in Nairobi to seek President Uhuru’s support for his candidature for the Executive Secretary of Igad, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.
Stronger ties Ismael told the President that Sudan itself was committed to stronger Kenya-Sudan relations, and would this year increase its imports of Kenyan tea by 20 per cent.
Sudan is one of the leading buyers of Kenyan tea. Uhuru has put food security and nutrition, affordable housing, increased manufacturing, and universal healthcare for all, at the heart of his agenda in his second-term of office.