Kenya and India are working on strengthening their long-standing economic and social cultural relations, by deepening their engagements in the technology and agricultural sectors.
Indian High Commissioner to Kenya, Namgya C. Khampa, said that there are immense opportunities for collaboration in the technology sector where the Kenyan Government has a very ambitious technology agenda.
Khampa said that India is ready and committed to collaborate and share what it has done in the technology space, which has generated a culture of innovation and an ecosystem that has had a multiplier effect.
Speaking, Thursday, during the 74th Republic Day of India celebrations, Khampa explained that India has implemented technological solutions, including digital identity, banking, e-governance among others, which have had impacts that will be of interest to Kenya because technology ultimately promotes faster growth, transparent and inclusive governance, as well as social and economic progress across the board.
“This is a special day since we are celebrating the 74th Republic Day of India, where on this day in 1950, India enacted its Constitution and embarked on its journey as an independent modern Republic,” said Khampa.
She highlighted that India and Kenya have a very historical and enduring partnership that is underpinned by the warmth and people led exchanges across history and this has been evident by the celebration of the India Republic Day here in Kenya.
Khampa said that India and Kenya have robust cooperation in many sectors and that both countries see many opportunities to further step it up, particularly in trade and investments, where there is significant interest by India based companies, to expand into Kenya as a gateway to the rest of the region.
“Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), agriculture, education, health care are all sectors that we can do more with Kenya by sharing our experiences as developing countries, which are traversing broadly similar paths,” said Khampa.
The High Commissioner said that her country is looking forward to working with Kenya in the line of agriculture, where a 100 million dollars line of credit have been extended to Kenya, and various initiatives have been prioritised.
“We are looking forward to the fast implementation of this line of credit that has been extended. There are various things we can do in agriculture, including trade and we have to continue having these conversations to see how we can bring concrete projects to fruition and we will continue to engage the government of Kenya on that,” said Khampa.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
