NEW DELHI, Dec 5
India Tuesday announced a $250 million line of credit to Kenya for modernisation of its agricultural sector as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto agreed to strengthen bilateral ties in the field of defence, trade, energy, digital public infrastructure and healthcare.
After Modi-Ruto talks, the two sides signed five pacts providing for cooperation in a range of areas including sports, education and digital solution, and unveiled a joint vision document to scale up maritime engagement in the Indian Ocean region.
India also raised the issue of two Indian nationals who went missing in the east African country in July last year.
The missing Indians were identified as Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Zaid Sami Kidwai. There were reports that they were abducted. Reports in October last year had cited a close aide of the Kenyan president claiming that the two missing Indians were killed by the disbanded Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) unit.
After the talks, Modi said India has been a “reliable and committed” development partner for Kenya and that New Delhi is fully prepared to share its achievements in digital public infrastructure with the east African nation. “As two agrarian economies, we agreed to share our experiences. We have also decided to provide a line of credit (LoC) of $250 million to modernise Kenya’s agricultural sector,” PM Modi said.
Dammu Ravi, secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said the Kenyan side offered land for farming to Indian companies under a cooperative model besides showing interest in India’s payment system, UPI (Unified Payments Interface). Modi said India and Kenya are “unanimous” that terrorism is the most serious challenge facing humanity and both sides have decided to increase counter-terror cooperation.
“Africa has always been given a high priority position in India’s foreign policy. Over the last decade or so, we have increased our cooperation with Africa in a mission mode,” Modi said.
The prime minister said both sides also deliberated on defence cooperation and emphasised on military exercises, capacity building as well as linking the defence industries of both the countries.
He said close cooperation between Kenya and India will strengthen “all our efforts in the Indo-Pacific”.
Approximately 80,000 people of Indian origin in Kenya, who consider that country as their second home, are the “biggest strength” of the ties, Modi said.
In the talks, Ruto invited Indian companies to take advantage of the conducive and attractive environment to invest in Kenya, especially in agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, health, green energy and green mobility sectors.
The joint statement said the Kenyan side thanked India for extending concessional Lines of Credit (LOC) for projects in sectors such as energy and textiles and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).
On defence cooperation, the joint statement said the two leaders also noted with appreciation the recently concluded MoU between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Ltd that will pave the way for mutually beneficial commercial ventures and also support Kenyan interest in developing shipbuilding, repair, and maintenance capacities.
