China to remove all tariffs on Kenyan exports - Ruto

Speaking at the 1st Murang'a Investment Conference, President Ruto acknowledged the unemployment challenge facing the country, particularly among the youth.

"We have a challenge of unemployment in Kenya. We have many young people who are looking for opportunities for work. And we have to be intentional. We have to be deliberate as to where are we creating the jobs," Ruto said.

Ruto identified value addition and agro-processing as key areas for job creation, revealing his plans for expanding special economic zones beyond Murang'a.

"One of them is the value addition, agro-processing space. And that is why my initial thinking for a special economic zone, not just in Murang'a, but in six other special economic zones in Kenya, is so that we can transition from primary production of all the aspects that we are doing, whether it is macadamia or avocado or tea or coffee, that we move it to the next value," he explained.

Ruto emphasized that the government is working with county governments to operationalize these special economic zones while also developing county aggregation and industrial parks for primary value addition of products.

“This conference comes at a pivotal time, as Kenya integrates county-level investment promotion into its broader foreign engagement strategy. A key milestone in this effort is the signing of the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which grants our exporters duty-free, quota free access to the European Union,” Ruto stated.

The head of state revealed details of his recent discussions with the Chinese leadership regarding the significant trade imbalance between the two countries.

"When I went to China three months ago, and we were shopping for what kind of collaboration we can have with China. I told the president of China that we import Ksh.600 billion worth of goods from China. While they import only Ksh.40 billion of goods from Kenya," Ruto disclosed.

Ruto announced significant progress in trade negotiations with China, revealing that a bilateral trade agreement is in the works.

"The good news is that as I talk to you, we are already sending a team to China because China has agreed to a bilateral trade agreement that will see the removal of all tariffs on Kenyan products so that we can expand the market," Ruto announced.

He expressed optimism about the timeline for concluding the negotiations, stating: "It is my expectation that by September or latest October, we should have been able to have forged an agreement that will see an expanded market for our avocados, our macadamia, our tea, our coffee, and other agricultural products to the one billion people in China."

China will negotiate and sign a new economic pact with Africa that will get rid of all tariffs on the 53 African states it has diplomatic ties with, it said, a move that could benefit middle-income nations.

"China is ready to... welcome quality products from Africa to the Chinese market", China's foreign ministry said after a meeting of senior Chinese officials with African foreign ministers in Changsha to review implementation of commitments made during a summit in Beijing last September.

Trade between China and Africa has been growing in recent years, but it has been heavily skewed in favour of China, which had a surplus of Ksh.8 trillion last year.

"Unless we have an equivalent increase of African exports to China, then trade deficits will continue to increase," Ryder, founder of Development Reimagined, an Africa-focused consultancy, said, adding that the initiative announced by Beijing could help to balance trade.

During last year's summit in Beijing, China pledged 360 billion yuan (Ksh.6.4 trillion) to African economies over three years in credit lines and investments, marking its return to big-ticket funding deals for the continent after a pandemic-related hiatus.