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Kenya

New German envoy sets out priorities during tour of duty

Promoting tourism is one of the opportunities she identifies as a mechanism that can be employed to absorb jobless youth/MIKE KARIUKI

Promoting tourism is one of the opportunities she identifies as a mechanism that can be employed to absorb jobless youth/MIKE KARIUKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb, 12 – Though a posting to Kenya was not an obvious expectation, new German Ambassador Jutta Frasch says she is excited to be in a country of a hardworking population.

It is a country she knew and admired long before, because of its international recognition in the world of athletics.

“We always have the Berlin marathon and it’s always Kenyans that win, both male and female,” she said.

“The economic growth is quite fast and stable and Kenyans are of course very outgoing.”

She further identifies Kenya as an important country in the world for hosting top UN bodies – UNEP and UN Habitat.

For the few months she has been in the country, the most exciting bit for her was the stream of international events that Kenya hosted few months after the visit of US President Barack Obama.

“I came in the middle of September and ever since, no day has been the same. It is very high speed that things are happening here. There were big events.”

Kenya’s moments of opportunity to host the World Trade Organisation Conference and Pope Francis were events that Frasch was happy to witness in her second posting as an ambassador.

She further witnessed the return of German Airline Lufthansa. “We had the return of Lufthansa after 16 years of absence. I had very many events.”

Frasch who will also serve Somalia during her posting in Kenya however identifies Kenya’s challenge of high unemployment rates among the youth.

Promoting tourism is one of the opportunities she identifies as a mechanism that can be employed to absorb jobless youth.

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She is content that Germany is among the countries that still have direct flights to Mombasa which was hit hard because of insecurity.

“Tourism is picking again. This is urgently needed in order to create jobs for the people down there and also for other places because jobs is the most important topic for the people of Kenya,” she explained.

Having identified the pressing issue of unemployment, Frasch plans to enhance collaboration between Kenya and Germany in areas of vocational training as well as establishment of production companies that can create job opportunities.

“For German companies who are more interested to come here. I met with Bosch which is interested in Kenya. All these companies need well trained people, and to train and educate them that is a promising part and Germany has a lot to offer,” she said.

Frasch who came to Kenya last September presented her credentials to President Uhuru Kenyatta last October.

She pledged that Germany would continue to work with Kenya to address challenges of insecurity.

READ: Germany assures Kenya of support in war against terrorism

Before her posting to Kenya, she was ambassador to Vietnam from 2012 to 2015.

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