Invest in Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga urges Asia

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) enjoys a light moment with his South Korean counterpart Kim Hwang-Sik (right) during their meeting in Seoul November 19, 2012. Mr Odinga arrived in Nairobi after a four-day visit to promote further collaboration between Kenya and South Korea.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged Asia to exploit investment opportunities in Kenya.

Mr Odinga, who arrived in Nairobi Thursday morning after a week-long trip in Malaysia and South Korea, showcased Kenya as an investment destination.

He spent the better part of his working trip wooing the business community to venture into the country for mutual benefit.

The PM met his Korean counterpart Kim Hwang Sik in Seoul for talks on promoting bilateral ties between the two countries.

The meeting discussed modalities of a joint venture to exploit the untapped energy potential in the country and the prospects of developing a nuclear power plant in the near future.

Finalise plans

The talks comes after the Daewoo Corporation of Korea finalised plans to construct a 300 MW coal power plant in Kilifi as the government seeks funds to to scale up production to at least 1000 MW.

Mr Odinga informed investors to take advantage of the opportunities in the energy sector citing that less that 150 out of the 7000 MW of geothermal energy potential in the country was exploited for power production.

He urged Korean firms to consider setting branches in Nairobi under a build, operate and transfer arrangement arguing that energy deficit remains the biggest challenge to Kenya’s dream of becoming Africa’s investment destination.

Mr Odinga assured officials of the Federation of Korean Industries that Kenya had adopted an open door policy to foreign investors.

He said Kenya was keen on forging closer ties with rising economic giants in Asia as the country embarks on setting up Special Economic Zones to spur growth and create jobs.

The tour comes after the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea’s POSCO to establish the Mini and Integrated Steel Mill plant in Kenya, following the recent discovery of iron ore in the country.

The Kenyan delegation visited, among others, the LG Electronics plant, Advanced Institute of Science and Technology which has expressed interest in setting an innovation centre at the Konza ICT city.

The trip also came four months after Korean Airlines introduced direct flights between Seoul and Nairobi.

Mr Odinga was accompanied by Ministers Ababu Namwamba, Amason Kingi, assistant ministers Oburu Oginga and Magerer Langat and the Managing Director of KenGen Eddy Njoroge.