2018年CRI Belt and Road Initiative helps link African continent: Kenyan President

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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta says the Belt and Road Initiative will help link the African continent, helping¹ to achieve mutual² benefits for all participating countries.

China and Kenya have maintained solid relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1963. President Uhuru Kenyatta says Kenya is set to play an important role in China's Belt and Road Initiative.

"I think it's tremendous, because what is the objective, the objective is to open up our economies to trade. The objective is to encourage trade amongst us connecting Asia, parts of Europe, through the Gulf³ region with Arab states, linking ourselves all the way through the African continent from the eastern side of Africa all the way across to the west, right? And I believe it has huge potential for a win-win situation for all who are involved and that is why we are very keen as a country and I believe also the continent to partner strongly with China in this initiative," Kenyatta says.

Infrastructure⁴ funding has always been a big problem for African countries. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Kenya has received funding for major projects.

Kenya's Mombasa-to-Nairobi Standard Gauge⁵ Railway (SGR) is built with aid from China. At 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, the SGR is Kenya's largest infrastructure project since independence.

"We're working with development partners. Our friends in China have been of huge assistance. Since China became strongly involved in Kenya and in Africa you see in the tremendous growth and infrastructure across the continent," Kenyatta notes.

Kenyatta says Kenya longs for a free and open trade policy. He hopes for greater cooperation with other countries in the region to achieve common prosperity.

"We are working together at the multilateral level to ensure prosperity for all. Closing yourselves up, I think it's short sighted, it's a short sighted vision. There's no long term position in it, because all that is going to happen is people are taking advantages, unfortunately maybe because of slowdowns and etc, thinking that if they close themselves in and that may protect their industries, but at the end of the day, that can only hurt as opposed to add value."

The Kenyan president is optimistic about the future of China-Africa ties and is looking forward to the upcoming Beijing Summit of the Forum⁶ on China-Africa Cooperation.