NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 21- President William Ruto has announced Visa free entries to Kenya for holders of Indonesian passports following talks with President Joko Widodo.
President Ruto said Monday that the move is aimed at fostering economic ties and attract investment in the country.
The Head of State emphasized the importance of gradually easing visa restrictions and fostering greater people-to-people interactions between the two nations.
“On our part as Kenya, we have taken the decision to extend visa-free entry not only to holders of diplomatic and service passports but also to all holders of Indonesian passports,“ he said.
During President Widodo’s visit to Kenya the two countries signed agreements to boost collaboration in food security, mining, renewable energy and health.
President William Ruto said that agreements will allow for the strengthening of commercial collaboration and the promotion of investment in the two countries.
President Ruto said that Widodo’s visit and the subsequent signing of the agreements is a sign of his goodwill and commitment to advance and cement the close historical ties enjoyed by Kenya and Indonesia.
“President Widodo and I have had fruitful bilateral engagement during which we discussed various issues, set out priority areas of cooperation and witnessed the signing of four Memoranda of Understanding and a Letter of Intent to strengthen commercial collaboration and the promotion of investment between our two countries,” President Ruto said.
During their discussions, President Widodo and Ruto shared ideas about scaling up collaboration to seize on emerging opportunities towards improving the balance of trade between the two states.
The two leaders also discussed trade and investment as well as collaboration in higher education, basic education, and vaccine development.
Speaking on the energy front, President Ruto said the co-operation will facilitate investment in geothermal energy, transmission and distribution of the power generated.
The MOU on mining and geology will involve joint studies, knowledge sharing, and capacity building between the two countries.
Touching on food security, Ruto said that the MOU between the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the Indonesia Food and Drug Authority will facilitate the strengthening, promotion, development, and implementation of regulatory cooperation in pharmaceutical products.
The two countries also inked a deal which establishes a framework between Kenya Biovax and Indonesia’s BioFarma for cooperation in technology transfer, contract manufacturing, registration, supply, and marketing of vaccines portfolio that will be manufactured by BioFarma in Kenya.
“Additionally, our two countries have also signed, a Letter of Intent to strengthen collaboration on the promotion of investment flows between Kenya and Indonesia,” Ruto said.
President Ruto emphasized that further bilateral discussions between ministers from both countries will be conducted to finalize additional cooperation frameworks in sectors such as agriculture and education.
To anchor business to business relations Ruto said six additional MOUs have been signed between the Trade Facilitation Institutions in both countries.
They include; Cooperation in oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, edible oils, agriculture, including livestock exports and apparel production.
The Head of State stated that the value addition ventures will catapult the value of the trade relations and leverage on the comparative advantage of Kenya and Indonesia.
Additionally, the two leaders discussed the importance of entering a Bilateral Investment Treaty which Ruto says will provide a stable and predictable investment environment which is a precondition for accelerated Private Secretor Investment.
“We have tasked our joint teams to finalize the elaboration of this instrument within the next 90 days,” he said.
To further bolster trade relations between the two states both leaders have committed to negotiating a preferential Trade Agreement.
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