Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria says he has met 11 presidents in the month of February alone and that he had been appointed a special envoy by President William Ruto, tasked with rekindling trade relations with Kenya’s business partners.
The Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete is among the leaders who he met.
“In this month of February, I have met 11 presidents; 10 sitting presidents and former president Jakaya Kikwete. In all these tours I was not sending myself, I was appointed as a special envoy by President William Ruto to talk to our neighbors and try to re-establish our leadership in terms of the region, trying to push through a couple of agreements that we feel are of strategic value and importance to the country,” Kuria said
The CS Moses Kuria said that some of the trade projects between Kenya and the respective countries had stalled and that he has been working to push them forward after taking over the Trade docket from Betty Maina in October last year.
“Some of those have been stuck for some time and we felt like only presidential-level decisions would unlock them. But it was not about defense and diplomacy; my mission was purely about the economy, business, and trade,” he said.
Kuria also said he has so far traveled to major business cities across the world to benchmark with the world’s leading economies.
“I visit many countries and I know the environment which the investors enjoy in those particular countries. I benchmark with many countries and I am going to give investors an environment that ranks equivalent to what the other countries do,” said Kuria.
