Background Information
Kenya is another has played pivotal role in promoting South-South Cooperation, particularly with African countries. In this context, the country has implemented a number of research and technological institutions acting as centres of excellence for national and regional interests. There prioritized areas of activities of those institutes are health, agriculture, policy research, education, among others enhancing the role of Kenya’s cooperation on the fields of research, technology, human resources and institutional development. Kenya supports the various initiatives under the framework of the African Union and NEPAD.
Examples of Key Projects of Kenya
Health
(KEMRI)
|
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is a good example training officials of Africa continent in Masters and Phd degree levels on Tropical Medicine and Infectious disease. The KEMRI centre also conducts important achievements on research for Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and arthritis among others. Despite its commitments in south-south cooperation, Kenya still faces difficulties in fighting its major disease which is HIV/AIDS. This country found itself in difficulties to deal with the disease in result of the high cost and lack of accessibility of drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment. In addition, the Kenyan Centre for Geographic Medicine is one of the leading research institutions on malaria in the world and various programmes have been implemented in the regional context. |
Agriculture
(KARI) |
The KARI – Kenya Agricultural Research Institute have since long data developed technologies appropriated to improve crop and livestock production, soil and water management with potential to be transferred to other similar ecological zones. The KARI has already supplied many African and some South American countries with the research obtained at this institute including for example of the livestock genotypes and germoplasm produced by this institute.
|
| Kenya Triangular Cooperation with JICA |
Kenya has also played a key role in the context of Triangular Cooperation and NEPAD with Japanese Cooperation development Agency in similar basis of that of Southeast Asian countries and Turkey and most recently, Brazil. Some of the major projects under the TICAD – Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development in which Kenya is also playing a role are the NERICA – New Rice for Africa, the African-Asian Business Forum, African-Asia Eco-Partnership Programme, African Capacity Development in Local Governance and the African Institute for Capacity and Development (AICAD) among other initiatives. Kenya has requested the duplication of these initiatives to other countries in order to promote social development. |
| Trade and Investments |
Regional integration has boosted Kenyan trade and investments considerable. Kenya is member of East African Community (EAC) creating valuable opportunity of market for Kenyan products as to other member countries into Kenyan market reducing needs of relying on developed world exports, in particular of agricultural products. Kenya’s imports coming from Common Market for Southern Africa (COMESA) has increased nearly 25% in 2005.
|
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya
Homepages: http://www.mfa.go.ke/mfacms and http://www.kemri.org/
|
