India should work on its strength to explore business opportunities in various sectors in Kenya

No.PR-93 May 22, 2020 New Delhi India should work on its strength to explore business opportunities in various sectors in Kenya New Delhi, 22nd May 2020: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized an Interactive Video Conference on “India – Kenya Business Promotion, Challenges and Opportunities – Post Covid19” on 21st May, 2020 with H.E. Mr. Rahul Chhabra, High Commissioner of India to Kenya, Ambassador of India to Somalia and Secretary (ER), Designate, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. H.E. Mr. Rahul Chhabra, in his welcome address apprised about the COVID19 situation in Kenya as well as Somalia. He mentioned that given the limited testing and medical facilities in the Eastern African region, strict steps are being taken like night curfew, heavy fines for not wearing masks, declaring hotspot areas etc. His Excellency threw light on opportunities for the Indian Industry in various sectors in Kenya such as Manufacturing, Transport & Storage, Construction, ICT, Agriculture, Dairy, and others. He also highlighted that before the onset of the pandemic, Kenya was going through unrest due to draught, floods, and local invasion, and presently the economy is majorly hit due to the pandemic which has hampered its growth, falling from 6% to 1%. Kenya has been a tourism centric place which is on the downfall. 1/3rd of Kenya’s economy falls on Agriculture and flowers industry are another big market, and the country flies out flowers to the Dutch, UK, Japan, and Korea markets. He affirmed that major Indian companies and banks are present in Kenya and are well established, even Indian Universities have opened their campus in Kenya. His Excellency was optimistic about the opportunities for the Indian Industries in Kenya post Covid19 and mentioned that comparing the current business of India and China in Kenya would not be a good idea as India should fight its own battle and look at the business offers India has advantages on to make efficient business deals. Dr. Marcellin NDONG-NTAH, East Africa Lead Economist, African Development Bank Group (ADB), shared that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa is likely to be unprecedented in nature and scale. Talking about initiatives taken by ADB Group for deploying an assistance and relief support to counter the severe impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Pradeep Multani, Vice President, PHD Chamber in his welcome address gave a brief insight about PHD Chamber and the India -Kenya Trade relations. He also mentioned that the contemporary ties between India and Kenya have now evolved into a robust and multi-faceted partnership. Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHDCCI while delivering the formal Vote of Thanks mentioned that PHDCCI will work with the members to draw their strategies to capitalize on the opportunities of bilateral business and economic cooperation with Kenya. The session was moderated by Mr. Naveen Seth, Principal Director, PHD Chamber. The Session was also attended by Mr. Vivek Agarwala, Chair, International Affairs Committee for Africa; Mr. Nasir Zaidi, Chair, International Affairs Committee for Gulf, PHD Chamber ;Mr. Vikram Gera, Co‐Chair, International Affairs Committee for Europe & CIS, PHD Chamber; Mr. GL Aggarwal, Co‐Chair, International Affairs Committee for Gulf, PHD Chamber; Mr. Dhruv Aggarwal, Co-Chair, PHD Chamber along with senior Industry Stalwarts attended the session which witnessed a participation of more than 110 Industry representatives. Ends. Media Division PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry