- Led by Wang Yang, the Chinese vice premier, the delegation arrived in the country on Saturday afternoon and were received by Ambassador Sun Baohong, National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale
- The delegation is expected to visit various projects funded by Chinese funds including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
High profile Chinese delegation led by Chinese vice premier lands in Kenya to scrutinise Chinese funded projects
The delegation is expected to visit various projects funded by Chinese funds including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
A high profile Chinese delegation representing Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Kenya on a fact finding mission to assess the progress and impact of Chinese funded projects among other businesses.
Led by Wang Yang, the Chinese vice premier, the delegation arrived in the country on Saturday afternoon and were received by Ambassador Sun Baohong, National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.
“We believe this important visit will give a vigorous boost to China-Kenya relations," said Mr Sun.
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Wang Yang, who also chairs the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is on official goodwill visit to Kenya on the invitation of National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
The delegation is expected to visit various projects funded by Chinese funds including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). On Sunday, the Chinese Vice Premier visited the south station of Mombasa–Nairobi SGR.
Also read: How Kenya can begin exploiting world's 17th largest economy without reinventing the wheel
The top Chinese political advisor is scheduled to have back-to-back events, including a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta and other leaders on exploring ways of deepening mutual cooperation and shared governance experience even further.
China sees Kenya as a strategic country and is keen to exploit the country’s strategic location to penetrate deeper in the continent. Apart from Djibouti, Kenya is the only other country in Africa included in China’s New Silk Road project called One Belt One Road, (OBOR).
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Silk Road is an ancient network of silk land and ocean trade routes of centuries past used by the Chinese to trade and connect with the world. Mombasa port and Kenya lies strategically across that route and as a result is set to reap a lot of benefits from its close ties with China.
China has set aside a massive budget of Sh15 trillion for the OBOR project which hopes to move high quality but cheap goods like IPADS and Car parts made in China, non-stop across the Central Asia, Europe and Africa.
Apart from that China also wants to satisfy Kenya’s insatiable appetite for loans to fund mega projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway.
According to the controller of budget fiscal year report for 2016/17, Beijing gave Nairobi a total Sh487 billion ($4,733.94 million) in the 12 months through end of September 2017.
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Within a period of just three months to September, China lent Kenya Sh122.73 billion ($119.16 million).
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