Jay456watt
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- Aug 23, 2016
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President Kenyatta is one of only two African leaders invite to take a seat at the table of 30 which includes Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan; the other African leader being Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway has been hailed as a shining example of what is being realised through the Belt and Road initiative and President Xi has been invited to grace its launch in two weeks’ time.
It’s one such round-table meeting that President Uhuru Kenyatta took part in on Monday morning before he was scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his host President Xi Jinping of China and the nation’s Premier, Li Keqiang. President Kenyatta is one of only two African leaders invited to take a seat at the table of 30 which includes Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan; the other African leader being Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. The leaders are gathered in Beijing, China for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, four years since its inception.
The brainchild of President Xi, the initiative is aimed at reviving the historical silk road and maritime routes through Africa, Asia and Europe through a collaborative effort based on, “mutual respect and driven by a common endeavour to pursue prosperity,” President Xi encapsulated at the opening of the forum on Sunday.
In the acknowledgement that, “financial bottleneck is a key challenge to realising connectivity,” President Xi announced an increase in his government’s contribution to the building of the necessary infrastructure with Kenya looking to secure funding for the dualling of the Northern and Eastern bypasses.
