Kenya turns to diplomacy to boost trade

The Kenya Government has initiated a new strategy that will use diplomacy to attract and boost investments and forge closer links with the West.

It has shifted its policy to embrace the concept of economic and trade diplomacy, which demands that Kenya aligns itself with economic blocs of strategic importance.

The new efforts will see the country increasing its honorary consuls from the current 22 and use them to not only market and defend the country abroad but also seek investments.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has adopted a policy of increasing its consular representation following measures to reduce its operational costs and restructure Kenya’s missions abroad,” Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi said.

He said while it is essential to reduce costs, it is also of critical importance that Kenya strengthens and expands its diplomatic presence within the region and abroad, and focuses more sharply on increasing bilateral investment.

Positive image

Mr Mwangi told a meeting of Kenya’s honorary consuls at Windsor Hotel in Nairobi that ends Sunday that the ongoing integration of global, cultural and economic communities has also led to a growing need for broad consular representation to spur interaction with other countries, maintain contact with the diaspora and uphold a positive image of Kenya.

The meeting was used as a launching pad of the strategy aimed at making increased use of its honorary consuls abroad, apprise them of Kenya's foreign policy objectives and priorities and their role in actualising them.

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs director for Economic and External Trade Division, Johnson Weru said diplomacy is new vehicle of trade for countries, which want to increase their volumes.

Citing last year’s move by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lead a delegation to a trade meeting in Kenya, Mr Weru said the Ministry also wants to use its officers to benefit the country economically and commercially.

“Ours is a deliberate move. We need to invest more in diplomacy as a gate way of economy and promote our key products like agriculture and tourism,” Mr Weru said.

Niche product

Mr Weru says Kenya also wants to effectively utilise its two million people in the diaspora just as countries like India had done and thus recording huge development in information technology and film industry.

He said the new efforts have resulted in the Spanish Government promising to invest in fish control laboratories in the country.

Mr Weru said honorary consuls would be posted in all major cities in Africa and the rest of the world so that Kenyan products can penetrate the areas.

“Any product that brings income to our farmers is a niche product. To achieve Vision 2030 we need to expand our domestic market and go outside in equal measure,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs now has a diaspora office with a budget of about Sh70 million and that it is developing a framework on how to engage with Kenyans outside the country.

Mr Weru said one needs to be a person of integrity and of high social standing to qualify as Kenya’s honorary consul.

The consuls should further have personal links with Kenya and working in private sector.

In the past three years, Mr Weru added, Kenya has developed diplomatic relations in 10 countries where it previously had consuls. The consuls were however still operating in those countries.

“We want the consuls to increase number of tourists coming to Kenya, sell Kenya outside there and contain negative reports that emanate from Nairobi,” he said.

Kenya’s honorary consul to Morocco Ali Muzahem Bajaber expressed delight over the move.

“Its good to tie our relationship with tourism, sports, culture, business and economy on top of other things we have been doing on behalf of the government like issuing passports and visas,” Mr Bajaber said in an interview.

Mr Mr Bajaber, who is secretary general of Arab Investment Club in Morocco, said its good for Kenya to increase its consuls adding, “they will pay back in long run".

He added that the proposed constitution, if passed would ease the consuls’ work, as it will pave way for dual citizenship.

Mr Bajaber regretted that Kenya was not using its strategic geographical location and history well to boost tourism and economy at large.

“Kenya should be a regional link to the Arab world to increase jobs and investments,” the consul who is based in Casablanca, said.

Huge basket

He said Kenya should forge a greater tie with both Arab world and Europe.

Mr Bajaber said he plans to help establish an Arab investment forum in Kenya to attract funds from its huge basket for development.

“Kenya needs to be proactive in its investment strategy and go further than creation of agencies to providing information. It is not enough to just have free market and creating investment agencies and then sit and wait for people to come,” he said.

The official said Morocco now manages to attract six million tourists annually compared to Kenya’s one million due to its bold move to a new destination six years ago.

Kenya’s coastal tourism, he added, needs to be linked to safari, which is Kenya’s strong point.

Mr Bajaber said plans were afoot for Kenya Airways in collaboration with Air Morocco to start direct flights from Nairobi to Morocco.

The flight, he said, was to start this year but was rescheduled due to delays by Air Morocco to acquire new fleets.

“We hope by first quarter of 2011 we will have direct flights,” he said.

Kenya’s consul to Germany Dr Jens Peter Breitengross who has served for 18 years said Prime Minister Raila Odinga is scheduled to visit Hamburg, where he is based, in September to discuss new business potentials.

Dr Breitengross, who is the head of German Africa Business Association, was happy that President Kibaki and Mr Odinga backed the consuls activities and that more are to be appointed.