China and Kenya have committed to strengthening bilateral cooperation ahead of this year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, summit to be held in Beijing next month.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives from the Chinese business community on Tuesday, Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya's prime cabinet secretary, said Kenya is ready to be the pilot country in Africa to implement the joint vision of building a closer community with a shared future.

Mudavadi, who is also the cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs, said the strategic partnership between Kenya and China underlines the strength of diplomatic relations between the two sides over the past six decades.

"We achieved an important milestone in 2017 when China elevated bilateral relations with Kenya to a comprehensive strategic partnership that manifested our mutual trust, respect and benefit for the people of Kenya and China," he said.

Mudavadi assured the Chinese business community of the government's support in scaling up their investments in priority sectors of the economy, anchored on the government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

He said Kenya has high expectations for the upcoming FOCAC summit, noting that the East African country has greatly benefited from the forum, specifically on infrastructure development.

"We are particularly optimistic that the forum will speak about the current global challenges and their impact on Africa and China," he said.

Stability and clarity

Mudavadi said Kenya finds stability and clarity in the manner and scope of cooperation within the FOCAC framework with clear roles and obligations to each side.

He said he hopes that the FOCAC summit will discuss practical cooperation between China and Africa on trade and investment, affordable financing for sustainable development, and reform of the international financial architecture.

This is in addition to Africa's industrialization within the context of the fourth industrial development decade for Africa, green financing, peace and security as well as people-to-people exchanges.

Zhou Pingjian, Chinese ambassador to Kenya, said China-Kenya comprehensive strategic cooperation has maintained good development momentum and entered into a new stage of jointly building an even closer China-Kenya community with a shared future in the new era.

He said the Chinese community in Kenya has played a critical role in growing bilateral relations between the two countries.

Zhou said the meeting between Mudavadi and the Chinese business community speaks volumes about Kenya's firm commitment to stronger international partnership in pursuit of its Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and national development.

"The embassy will continue to exert its utmost efforts to consolidate and further the long-standing friendly ties between our countries and enhance friendship between our people," he said.

Gao Wei, chairman of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, said the Chinese business community is witnessing Kenya's development, contributing to its growth and benefiting from its development.

He said Kenya boasts a favorable natural environment, political stability and a rapidly developing economy.

"Infrastructure projects have significantly improved over the past decade, enhancing the convenience of life and increasing the country's attractiveness to international visitors," Gao said.

He said the number of Chinese nationals visiting Kenya, including tourists and entrepreneurs, has surged post-pandemic, noting that about 50,000 Chinese nationals are currently working in various sectors in the East African country.

Wang Shangxue, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, said Kenya's Ministry of Education and its Chinese counterpart may sign an agreement during the FOCAC on joint Chinese language education in Kenya.

"This will support the training of local Chinese teachers, standard accreditation, pilot the introduction of Chinese language in Kenya's basic education, Chinese language curriculum and textbook development," she said.