In a high level bilateral meeting held in Oran city, Algeria, Cabinet Secretary of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Dr. Alfred Mutua bagged a handful of goodies for Kenya when he met with his Algerian counterpart, the Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Ramtane Lamamra.
Noting the various opportunities available for Kenya in Algeria are in education, trade, tourism, sports and cultural diplomacy, the two diplomats agreed to aggressively pursue them for mutual benefit.
The meeting focused on among others agricultural and horticultural products (such as avocados, tea, coffee, nuts, flowers, milk and meat etc.), fertilizer, oil and gas, pharmaceutical manufacturing among others with a view to benefiting Kenyan farmers, students and industrialists.
In the education sector, the Algerian government committed to provide 200 scholarships to Kenya in the areas of pharmacy, medicine, geology, dry farming and engineering.
In industry, Kenya will benefit from subsidized fertilizer and oil & gas as well as pharmaceutical industries through Public Private Partnership (PPP) deals.
To facilitate movement of goods and people, they agreed to speed up for signing in the first quarter of 2023, the Bilateral Air Services Agreement to facilitate direct air travel between Nairobi to Algiers.
“Kenyans should take advantage of these new opportunities so as to increase their earnings, education and grow our economy,” said Dr. Mutua after the meeting.
Other areas of collaboration identified include joint diplomatic training and the twinning of Mombasa and Oran cities.
To speed up these deals, Kenya Pharmacy & Poisons Board will be visiting Algeria in January to look at their products, processes and standards, while the Trade team led by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industrialization and Kenya Promotions Board will also visit Algeria in January to actualize these trade deals.
The meeting also agreed on an inaugural Algeria-Kenya Joint Commission for Cooperation for March, 2023 in Nairobi.
