| Fresh Impetus to Old Ties – Interview with Julius Ole Sunkuli, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to China
By staff report WANG SONG
Kenya is a paradise for photography enthusiasts, with its beautiful beaches and exotic wildlife parks. This land that drew European colonialists in the past is now a magnet for tourists and businessmen from China.
Kenya and China have long ties that can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644), when famous navigator Zheng He reached Kenya during his seven voyages to the Western Sea (1406 - 1433). The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1963 and the friendly cooperation between the two sides continues. In recent years, trade, culture and education ties have grown even stronger.
Kenyan Ambassador Julius Ole Sunkuli tells China Today about what has been achieved in Sino-Kenya relations in recent years, his impressions of Chinese people and the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
Q: China is the world's largest producer of solar heaters and the third largest maker of photovoltaic cells. What progress has been made in the China-Kenya cooperation in solar energy?
A: As a country abundant in solar resources, the Government of Kenya sees new and clean energy as of great importance, and we would like to develop our solar program. We have visited China's solar energy project in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, and would like to see how to cooperate in Kenya. Moreover, some individual Chinese companies are already seeking cooperation in solar energy in Kenya. However, we have problem in solar energy utilization, since it is expensive to exploit solar energy at the beginning. So we now need to talk about how we can have the initial capital for this project.
Q: Is there any plan for cooperation in other energies?
A: There are a number of energy projects between China and Kenya. The main energy source in Kenya, so far, is hydroelectricity, because Kenya has plentiful water resources. The Chinese government as well as Chinese companies have invested in this field and we are also planning to get more investments. Examples include the project in Tana River, the longest river in Kenya, that will generate massive amounts of power for irrigation. Besides, there are a number of geothermal companies in Naivsha that generate geothermal power.
Q: China's tea imports from Kenya have been growing at annual rates of above 100 percent over the past four years. What efforts has Kenya made to tap into China's tea market?
A: Although I have been in China for only a few months, I have realized that many young people in China like to drink coffee and black tea. Many tourists and businesspersons who live in China also prefer black tea. Kenya is the world's biggest manufacturer of black tea; most black tea in Europe and U.S. is imported from Kenya. Therefore, we have decided to market our tea in China, and have participated in many tea expositions to show our tea in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. And in August, we joined a big tea expo in Hong Kong.
Q: What are the features of, and trends in, Sino-Kenya trade?
A: The trade balance between Kenya and China favors China, with China to Kenya standing at about US $1 billion, and Kenya to China, at US $38 million. We have a huge gap to bridge. Chinese companies are engaged in many aspects of Kenyan economy, such as infrastructure, energy and so on. And our ministers and leaders will come to China to try to reach an agreement to balance the trade, so that China can buy more tea, leather and send more tourists to Kenya.
Q: You just mentioned Kenya's tourism. What is the extent of cooperation in tourism? What does Your Excellency think are Kenya's prime attractions to Chinese tourists?
A: A few years ago, the Chinese government signed an agreement with Kenya and declared Kenya as a favorable destination for Chinese people. It is an endorsement of Kenya being a stable country with amazing scenery. Since Kenya sits on the Equator, there are no extremes of winter and summer and very little humidity. We have many spacious national parks where animals like zebras and elephants live in the wild.
One of the biggest miracles in the world, the great migration of wildebeest from Kenya to Tanzania, across the Mara River, is known as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Chinese tourists would like to go to Masai Mara, the most important national park in Kenya. There is also the beautiful sight of Flamingoes in Lake Nakuru.
And in the city of Nairobi, there is the Nairobi National Park with only a fence separating the park's wildlife from the metropolis, making Nairobi the world's only wildlife capital.
The current number of Chinese tourists visiting Kenya is 20,000 a year, and we hope this figure will increase to at least 100,000 per year in the next three years. Kenya now has a good number of people learning Chinese, and in the next three years our plan is to ensure that any Chinese group that travels to Kenya does not need to spend extra money on taking an interpreter; they can find interpreters in Kenya.
And we also make sure that our hotels can cook good Chinese food. We want to promote tourism in a more meaningful way, so that China starts appreciating Kenya.
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