Amina Mohamed and Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Ramtane Ramamra sign MoUs in the presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal of Algeria/CFM BUSINESS
The agreement signed by Foreign Affairs and International Trade CS Amina Mohamed and Ramtane Lamamra seeks to improve and stimulate economic and industrial development in both countries in the field of oil, gas and power.
The MoU will seek to improve and stimulate economic and industrial development in both countries in the field of oil, gas and power which both countries consider strategic to their economies.
“As Kenya looks forward to commercial exploitation of its oil resources, we look forward to learning from Algeria’s expertise, including in the drawing up of appropriate legal frameworks and capacity building to enable us to take charge of our hydrocarbon resources right from the onset,” CS Mohamed said after signing the agreement in the presence of President Kenyatta and Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.
She encouraged Algerian investors to explore opportunities for investment in the area of oil and to learn from Kenya’s experience in geothermal energy production.
The areas of co-operation will cover policy, legal and regulatory framework of the oil, gas and power sector; onshore and offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons; development of petrochemical industries; refinery maintenance activities; domestic marketing, transport and distribution of petroleum products.
The countries shall identify and examine specific projects on areas mentioned. The authorities responsible for the implementation of the MoU will be the Ministry of Energy & Petroleum, for Kenya and the Ministry of Energy for Algeria. The MoU is valid for three years and will be automatically renewed for similar periods.
Algeria has a well developed hydrocarbons industry which is the backbone of its economy, accounting approximately 60pc of budget revenues, 30pc of GDP and over 95pc of export earnings.
Algeria has the 10th largest reserves of natural gas in the world and is the sixth largest gas exporter. It ranks 16th in oil reserves. Algeria’s oil production stands at 1.875million barrels a day.
Another MoU signed by the two countries through their Ministers of Foreign Affairs is between the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations of Algeria, and the Foreign Service Institute of Kenya.
The two countries will set up a program of action which will revolve around exchange of information and content of the training programs in the domains of foreign policy, international relations, international law and international economic relations.
Promotion and reinforcement of cooperation between the two institutions in the framework of an exchange of experiences, experts, teachers and organisation of thematic seminars and conferences of which the content is jointly fixed.
The parties will fix the practical modes of each project jointly undertaken and particularly, the terms and the conditions of financing the operations of cooperation.
The Foreign Ministers also signed an agreement on visa exemption for the holders of diplomatic passports.
The MoU provides for the nationals of both countries holding valid diplomatic passports, not accredited in the territories of their respective countries, to enter, transit and stay or leave the territory of the other Party, without visa, within a period not exceeding 90 days from the date of the arrival.
