The Czech Republic and Kenya have agreed to enhance trade and investments between the two nations. https://rb.gy/0kqrs5
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00:00 In our bilateral meeting today, we held in-depth discussions on ways of enhancing trade and investment.
00:07 And I thank Prime Minister Fiala for being accompanied with a huge delegation of business people
00:16 who have had very fruitful interactions with our own private sector
00:23 and business people under the Chamber of Commerce in our two countries.
00:30 I take this opportunity to encourage the business delegations accompanying His Excellency the Prime Minister
00:38 to explore the huge untapped investment opportunities in Kenya.
00:43 And I have also informed them that those opportunities are not limited to the 52 million people in Kenya.
00:52 They extend to the East African community with a population of 350 million people.
00:59 Those opportunities extend to the tripartite free trade area between EAC, Comesa and SADC
01:09 with a population of 750 million people.
01:12 And they extend all the way to the African continental free trade area, which is a population of 1.4 billion people.
01:22 To accelerate growth in trade and investment, we have agreed on the following steps for immediate action
01:29 that the Czech Republic consider establishing a commercial hub in Nairobi
01:34 and use Kenya's geostrategic advantage as a gateway for the broader regional and continental engagement
01:42 in terms of trade and investment.
01:45 And that we implement urgent measures to establish a business council
01:51 that will serve as a platform for bilateral private sector consultations and engagements
01:59 to be brought together by the Chamber of Commerce in Kenya and the Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic.
02:09 Following the Czech-Kenya Business Forum yesterday, attended by more than 120 companies from our two countries
02:18 and which Prime Minister Fiala graced with his presence,
02:21 I am confident that Kenya and the Czech Republic will witness higher levels of commercial and trade activities
02:30 that will spur increased investment from Czech companies into Kenya in diverse fields in our economy.
02:38 The African continental free trade area, a market as I have said of 1.3 billion people,
02:45 is currently being organized and Kenya's vantage point will afford Czech companies unimpeded access to this market.
02:55 In conjunction with Kenya's ratification of the EU Economic Partnership Agreement,
03:01 Kenya offers a compelling array of benefits unmatched in our region.
03:08 I did also take the opportunity to thank His Excellency Prime Minister for Czech's support
03:17 as we negotiated the Economic Partnership Agreement that now has been concluded
03:24 and we will be signing it off on the 17th of December
03:29 that affords Kenya, being the first country in our region, to get quota-free, duty-free access to the European market
03:41 and that this will be a leverage that we can share with our Czech counterparts
03:47 as they explore opportunities in the Kenyan space.
03:52 [END]
03:54 [END]