Raila starts China tour

Thursday (Chengdu, China) - Prime Minister Raila Odinga has arrived in Chengdu city, China at the head of a Kenyan delegation to the 10th Western China International Economy and Trade Fair.

The plane carrying the PM and his entourage touched down at the Shuangliu international airport at shortly before 5pm Kenyan time where he was received by Mr Huang Runqiu of the Chinese Communist Party and Kenya’s ambassador to China Julius ole Sunkuli.

Mr Odinga will on Friday attend the official opening ceremony of the trade fair at which Kenya is exhibiting.

He will later hold talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on bilateral relations between the two countries.

On the sidelines of the trade fair, the PM will meet with other World leaders attending the trade fair and officials of various manufacturing companies in China. The PM is also expected to tour some of the manufacturing plants.

In the delegation are Cabinet Ministers Amos Kimunya (Trade), Franklin Bett (Roads) and Chris Obure (Public Works) and Assistant Minister Charles Keter (Energy).

In an interview earlier, ambassador Sunkuli noted that trade between Kenya and China has been on the increase in the recent times. He said before the 2008 post election violence, Kenya’s imports from China stood at US$1 billion while exports were US$38 million.

“The government has put in place appropriate programmes to redress this trade imbalance which is in favour of China,” he said.

The ambassador added that China’s involvement in infrastructure development in Kenya is outstanding noting they have constructed a number of roads in Kenya that has tremendously improved the road network in the country.

“China has also offered Kenyan students scholarships and currently there are 38 Kenyan students on Chinese scholarships in this country.”

“The number of Chinese who are doing business in Kenya is also on the increase,” he added.

On tourism, Mr Sunkuli observed that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Kenya had risen to 20,000 before 2007 noting the figures that have since gone down are set to increase once again following renewed confidence in Kenya.