Kenya spoilt for choice as business and tourism conferences surges this year

NAIROBI: Kenya is quickly making a name for itself as a competitive destination for business conferencing. This position has been further boosted by the country’s recent ranking in Fortune magazine as one of the top seven investment destinations in developing markets due to its political stability and sound macroeconomic management. The country beat Nigeria and South Africa.

And following the success of July’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit, the country has lined up several more high-profile meetings and conferences.

“The reducing cost of doing business and stable macroeconomic environment continue to give out the clear signal that Kenya is ready to do business with the world,” Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed said, commenting on the ranking.

He added that the Government has been working on an ambitious programme to address the challenges in doing business, and has set up a delivery team to ensure the country develops into a world-class investment destination.

FOREIGN POLICY

But already, the efforts made so far are beginning to reap fruit. Kenya is set to be the first African country to host the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) next year, after Gambia dropped its bid to host the conference, leaving Kenya as the only contender.

TICAD is held every five years and is a major pillar of Japan’s foreign policy in Africa. The first four of the conferences were held in Tokyo, and the fifth was in Yokohama, Japan.

The World Trade Organisation’s 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) will also be held in Mombasa in December, and is projected to inject Sh6 billion into the economy. The meeting is intended to create an enabling environment for African governments to effectively negotiate and possibly establish a new platform for future trade discussions.

Kenya will host the World Public Relations Forum and the Skal International Congress in 2015, the latter of which will also be held in Mombasa next year and is expected to bring together about 1,500 travel and tourism professionals.

The country has already hosted the Broadcast, Film and Music Africa Conference and International Fashion Fair 2015, while other trade exhibitions expected the last quarter of the year, and which will bring in international delegates, include the Kenya Tradex, Kenya Foodex, Kenya Buildex and Africa Travel Association Conference.