Government to establish modern centre to support investors

Nairobi, Kenya:  Efforts are underway to set up a state of the art one-stop centre to provide seamless and efficient services to investors, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.

The centre – one of the latest moves by the Government to make Kenya investor-friendly – will bring Government ministries and agencies involved in investment facilitation under one roof.

“Our intention is to second senior officers to the Centre with sufficient authority to make decisions.   I have directed the Ministry of East African Affairs and other Ministries involved to hasten this process,” he said.

The President spoke today when he officially opened the inaugural Kenya International Investment and Trade Conference at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi. The conference is geared towards consolidating Kenya’s position as Africa’s gateway and prime investment destination.

President Kenyatta said the Government has also embarked on developing a comprehensive national investment policy that will streamline incentives currently offered to investors and other promotion aspects such as local content and joint ventures.

He assured that the Jubilee Government is keen on prioritising policies that will spur investment to deliver the promise it made to uplift the lives of Kenyans.

To succeed in the war against poverty, the President said, Kenya and the East African region must embrace genuine investors from other parts of the world to complement local investors.

The President said: “Investment is key to our economy.  Without it, we cannot create the jobs that will sustain our young men and women or relieve the poverty that still disfigures the lives of our people,”

“That is why my Government is so assertively marketing the country and removing obstacles that still stand in the way of productive investment by investors – both local and international,” he said.

He singled out the Standard Gauge Railway that will link Mombasa to Nairobi and eventually knit entire region together as one of the flagship projects on the offing to attract investment.

Other projects include the commissioned 140 MW geothermal plant – a core part of the Jubilee manifesto’s commitment to generate 5000MW of power by 2017.  The injection of 140 MW into the national grid has already cut the cost of power by nearly 30%.

President Kenyatta said the Government also launched a single-window electronic clearing system to hasten the clearance of imports and exports.

“We have cut the container transit time along the Mombasa to Kampala route from 22 days to 6 days.  Export and import procedures are also now handled under one electronic framework,” President Kenyatta said.

He said commitments to bilateral investment treaties and signing of double-taxation agreements with key investing and trading partners have been accelerated.

The President added that regional integration to improve the attractiveness of the region to investors has been deepened with the establishment of a Free Trade Area across the East Africa Community, COMESA and SADC – creating a market of 600 million people.

To ensure sustainable and equitable growth, President Kenyatta said funds that grant credit on concessional terms to the disadvantaged including Uwezo Fund, the Youth and Women Enterprise Funds were created.

The investment conference was organized by the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism in conjunction with the Kenya Investment Authority, the Export Promotion Council, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).

During the function, the President fielded questions from local and international investors on the investment environment in the country.

 He thanked the United Kingdom High Commissioner to Kenya Christian Turner for reassuring Kenyans that they do not need to travel to South Africa to acquire visas to travel to Britain.

EAC, Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie  said her ministry is working with county governments to woo investors as the devolved governments become new investment frontiers.

Oxford Business group regional Editor for Africa, Robert Tashima presented the Kenya 2014 report which indicates that Kenya is now one of the best global destinations for investment due to its geographical position and competitive advantage.