Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today in Nairobi, attended a special Israel-Kenya economic forum in which the economic delegation that joined his trip also participated, as well a delegation of Kenyan businesspeople from over 150 companies. Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the delegation: "Come closer, come and invest in Kenya. This is an opportunity. We have strategic interest, we have national and international interests, but I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if I didn't think that you would benefit because the opportunity here is first of all talented people, many possibilities and a government and a President that wants you here and is willing to go the distance to get you here. So we came a distance to get you here, you came here. Come and invest in Kenya."
The Israeli delegation is composed of 80 entrepreneurs from over 50 leading companies, mainly in the fields of agriculture, water, communications and homeland security. The goal of the forum was to increase bilateral economic cooperation and thereby boost Israeli exports and strengthen bilateral ties by creating both opportunities for business meetings and work contacts.
Netanyahu states that he thinks the opportunities in Kenya are great. "I think that there is an inflection point, in a certain point that an economy can take off. You can be part of that, the yeast in this cake. We can help reduce some of the risk. We can't eliminate it altogether."
The prime minister stated that the government is also advancing several steps to provide support and assistance for Israeli industry in penetrating the Kenyan market, including: the signing of a bilateral economic cooperation agreement, a commercial attache's office which is due to open in Nairobi in the coming year, a plan to assist exporters to Africa and a financial protocol which, when signed, is expected to lower the risks entailed in doing business in Kenya.
Netanyahu added that "Israel is very strong in communication, as you can see. It's very good in things from anything you want, from dairy production to water management to border patrols to satellites to cyber and back to everything else. But we are eager to share this technology with you and I say now to the local governors, we've had our experience in other countries. Take a small country, China. We're dealing in China both on a G2G basis and also with companies but also with governors."
A member of the economic delegation noted that the Israeli companies held successful meetings, above and beyond expectations, with 100 Kenyan companies and relevant government representatives. He added that deals between Israeli and Kenyan companies were closed today and that many others are due to be closed as a result of today's meeting.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016