Kenyan leader says trip to Japan successful
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki who arrived in Nairobi early Friday from Japan where he attended the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development termed his five-day trip to the Asian nation a success.
A statement from his office said Kibaki urged Kenyans to gain confidence of building a prosperous nation from the Japanese economic success whose key pillar is hard working of its people.
“Fellow Kenyans, let us be encouraged by the unique economic success story of Japan, a country that has no major natural resources but whose success is based on the hard work of its people. Similarly, God has endowed our country with hardworking and innovative people,” he said.
During his visit, the president held bilateral talks with various leaders from the government of Japan aimed at strengthening various sectors that are the mainstay of Kenya’s economy.
“The trip to Japan was in line with my strongly held belief that we must position our nation to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the world economy,” Kibaki said.
The president at the same time reminded Kenyans that peace and security are the key pillars that would guarantee rapid development of the country. “We must harness our diversity by remaining united in our common endeavors to improve the well being of our people,” said Kibaki.
He noted that Japan has funded important power-generating projects in the country, citing the phase one and two of the Sondu Miriu hydropower generating projects whose completion would translate into an extra 90 megawatts added into the national electricity grid.
He noted that Japanese and Kenyan government officials would soon be negotiating a line of credit for 340 million U.S. dollars to fund the Olkaria IV geothermal electricity project which would add an extra 140 megawatts into the national grid.
“We are taking these steps to ensure that our country remains supplied with adequate electricity in the coming years, and avoids power shortages that could compromise our economic growth,” he said.
Kibaki said Japan has also provided his country with a concessional loan of over 15 billion shillings (about 242 million U.S. dollars) for its modernization of the port of Mombasa.
He noted that the modernization of the port would serve as a starting point for integrated infrastructure projects that are related to the movement of goods and services from the port of Mombasa.
“The upgrading of the Mombasa port remains critical and is in our interest and that of the regional economies that are reliant on the port,” he said.
President Kibaki also said that the government of Japan would send technical experts to assess the problem of the “missing link” roads that connect various regions of the city to avoid the hefty costs incurred through persistent traffic jams in the city and improve the traffic flow in Nairobi.
Kibaki also disclosed that future development programs undertaken in collaboration with the government of Japan would lay emphasis on rural development particularly irrigation and water supply.
“Water provision is especially important to us because a large section of our population is not adequately supplied with water while irrigation is a critical component in our efforts to be self-sufficient in food,” he noted.
The Kenyan leader said that his government was exploring ways to increase rice production in various existing irrigation schemes while at the same time investing in new rice production schemes.
To enhance national food security, the Kenyan government appealed for increased funding for the importation of fertilizers.
During the visit, the president also lobbied for increased Japanese tourists to the country and expressed confidence that the number of Japanese tourists could be doubled in the next two years.
Kibaki urged the Japanese government to consider expanding the duty free and quota free market access of products from least developed countries to enable countries such as Kenya to benefit.
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Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 7:41 pm under