Kenyan Businesses to Get Special Treatment - Malaysian PM

By M. Saraswathi

NAIROBI, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Kenyan businesses will get special treatment from Malaysia on the grounds of friendship as well as the immense potential for trade between both countries, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday.

The government will remain as the core facilitator for trade and investment flows to prosper but it is for the businesses to take the lead, he told a packed Malaysia-Kenya High Level Business Forum here.

“The companies from Kenya should  take the lead. There are areas that you excel at that we should benefit and learn from. There are areas we are good at and we share that with you, and that should be the new arrangement,” he said.

He added that such expansion in trade, investment and knowledge is vital to ensure the success of an economy. “(We) cannot purely depend on our traditional economic ability. Neither should we depend on our traditional market access,” said Anwar, who is also the finance minister.

Also present during the forum were Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and the principal secretary for investment promotion in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Abubakar Hassan Abubakar.

In 2024, Kenya emerged as Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner in Africa, with total trade reaching RM5.7 billion, an increase of 1.2 per cent from RM5.51 billion in the preceding year.

-- BERNAMA