| Iranians to invest in motorcycle plant in new trade pact bdafrica.com , 2008-8-15 14:15:33 |
||||||
| Black tea August 15, 2008: Kenya and Iran have signed an agreement to allow the Middle Eastern country establish motorcycle and tractor plants in Kenya. This will be done through joint ventures with Kenya¡¯s private sector and will involve the production and assembly of the bikes. The agreement also includes aggressive marketing of black tea and red meat to the Iranian markets. Before the tractor and motorcycle assembly plans are set up, the agreement says that importation of fully assembled tractors and motorcycles will commence. Abbas Sadreddini, the commercial attach¨¦ at the Iranian embassy in Kenya, said his country is ready to go ahead with the implementation of the agreement. ¡°We are waiting for our Kenya colleagues to give us a go ahead, including how the agreement on setting up the assembly plants will be implemented,¡± he said. Vehicle productionIran could also help Kenya produce cars if the existing agreements were accelerated like it has done in Venezuela, Syria and Senegal. The agreement was signed on Thursday at the end of a three day summit; the Kenya-Iran Joint Commission on Cooperation, a government-to-government formal group that meets often to explore trade and social cooperation opportunities.The agreements follow commitments by Iran¡¯s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the 15th Foreign Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned Movement held in July this year in Tehran. While Kenya imports minor quantities of agricultural equipment like tractors from Iran, the Middle East country imports low volumes of black tea from Kenya, according to the Export Promotion Council. There is no clear data on the value of Kenya-Iran trade but officials from both parties said their interest is to boost it to about Sh34 billion every year. Of the Sh4.2 billion worth of black tea Iran imported in 2004, only 2 per cent came from Kenya, with Sri-Lanka dominating at 58 per cent and India at 39 per cent. Tea marketingThe implementation of the new agreement will be coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and includes giving opportunities to Kenyans to aggressively market black tea in Iran.It also includes similar facilitation for the marketing of red meat, offering Kenya a new opportunity from the European market which the country has failed to consolidate because of poor livestock and meat handling standards. Mr Sadreddini confirmed that the Export Development Bank of Iran has also agreed to set up a branch in Kenya as soon as the licensing process is complete to be able to offer trade financing solutions to both parties. Frequency of contacts between Kenya and Iran have increase since 2003 when Kenya sought to shake-off a Western donor oriented foreign policy. Last year, the two countries signed two Memorandum of Understanding; one exchanging broadcasting frequencies and the other on technical cooperation in water resources management. |
||||||
 |
Print story |  |
Mail to a Friend | |||
