Kenya keen on strengthening global trade, says Ababu
Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary Ababu Namwamba with India's Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh. Mr Namwamba is leading a Kenyan delegation to the WTO Ministerial Conference in India. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Mr Namwamba has pledged to see Kenya implement its obligations as agreed through the global trade organisation.
- One of the persistent issues in the WTO has been the protectionist tendencies by rich countries.
- WTO has been beneficial to poor nations in access to generic drugs, which would otherwise be expensive.
hKenya is still keen on strengthening global trade system, even as it works towards regional integration.
Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ababu Namwamba says Kenya is committed to making the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stronger to ensure countries play by the set trading rules.
Mr Namwamba, who is leading a Kenyan delegation to the WTO Ministerial Conference in India, has pledged to see Kenya implement its obligations as agreed through the global trade organisation.
MULTILATERAL TRADING
“I have presented Kenya's position urging pragmatism, flexibility, sensitivity and honesty in the ongoing efforts to sustain and strengthen the multilateral trading system, especially as regards key strands of agriculture, fisheries and development,” Mr Namwamba told Nation from New Delhi.
The WTO is global organisation, though not part of the UN, formed by countries across the world to help formulate rules of trade in the interest of fairness.
Member countries often meet from time to time to address challenges in the trading system such as non-tariff barriers, disputes on trade agreements as well as export of harmful substances.
One of the persistent issues in the WTO has been the protectionist tendencies by rich countries to limit agricultural imports from poor countries, as well as the claim that rich countries are dumping harmful goods or expired products in poorer nations.
WTO
However, the WTO has been beneficial to poor nations in access to generic drugs, which would otherwise be expensive.
Kenya, for instance, buys generic drugs from India because the country is allowed under the WTO rules to manufacture generic drugs by borrowing technology used to make original medicine in rich countries.
The meeting in Delhi comes even as African countries on Wednesday signed a landmark agreement creating the African Continental Free Trade Area, bringing 44 nations under one common market.
The agreement, signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Rwanda on behalf of Kenya, is expected to be signed by all member states of the African Union to create a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $2 trillion (Sh200 trillion).
The official said expanded free and fair trade will be a key boost to Kenya’s own ambitions.
Mr Namwamba argues Kenya advocates for expeditious resolution of issues in respect of the WTO judicial framework.
AGENDAS
The agendas include universal healthcare, affordable housing, food security and expanded manufacturing anchored on value addition.
Mr Namwamba is accompanied to New Delhi by Kenya's Geneva-based ambassador, WTO and other international organisations in Switzerland, Stephen Ndung’u Karau, among others.
On the side-lines of the WTO, Mr Namwamba said that he held bilateral talks with India's Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu and discussed the WTO process and Kenya-India bilateral cooperation on a wide range of areas.
“Some of the areas we deliberated on include export of soda ash and pulses from Kenya, establishment of a foreign trade institute and a directorate of anti-dumping in Kenya, the Kenya-India Joint Trade Committee and the fate of Kenya Re-Insurance Company in the Indian market,” added Mr Namwamba.
