Kenya, South Korea sign pacts to boost cooperation in key areas

Kenya on Tuesday signed seven pacts with South Korea boosting its effort to become an economic, industrial and technological powerhouse in the region.

In one of the pacts, the Korea Export-Import Bank will pump an initial Ksh 5 billion to support the agricultural sector to improve Kenya’s food security.

The memorandum with the Korean Bank was signed for Kenya by agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Park Geun-hye, who had earlier chaired a bilateral meeting, witnessed the signing of the bilateral pacts at State House, Nairobi.

The MOUs were on cooperation in science and technology, e-Government, industry, trade and investment.

Others were on cooperation in health, innovation and higher education, and electric power and nuclear energy development.

The MOU on scientific and technological cooperation – signed by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Korea’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se – entails sharing of policies and technologies in the fields of science and technology between the two countries.

It also involves implementing exchanges between research and development institutes in Kenya and South Korea.

Under this MOU, Kenya and South Korea will also exchange human resources through education and training programs. It will also promote partnerships between Kenya and Korea on the development of smart city solutions.

The pact on cooperation in e-Government will see Kenya and South share best practices and technical exchanges to increase efficiency and effectiveness of Government services for the benefit of the people of the two countries. Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed signed the MOU for Kenya.

Industry, Trade and Cooperative Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed and Korean Minister for Trade, Industry and Trade Mr Joo Hyunghwan signed the MOU on cooperation in industry, trade, investment and industrial complex development. The MOU will see Kenya and South Korea work together in developing their textiles, food processing, leather processing, automobiles and electronics industries. The two countries will also cooperate in developing industrial complexes and special economic zones.

The MOU on electric power and nuclear energy development was signed by Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter and Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyunghwan.

By signing this MOU, Kenya is set to benefit from Korea’s expertise in power generation. Korea has a unique model of power development that has ensured stable supply of electricity through continuous constructions and safe operations of power plants.

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu and Korean Health and Welfare Minister Chung Chinyoub inked the MOU on health that seeks to scale up the two countries’ cooperation in diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases. Kenya will also benefit from Korea’s support in screening and cryo-therapy for cervical cancer, diagnostics capacity building for imaging and nuclear medicine.

Education Cabinet Secretary Matiang’i and Konza Technopolis Development Authority CEO John Tanuisigned an MOU with the Export-Import Bank of Korea that supports the on-going Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Project.