Kenya has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia, seeking to increase its tea, coffee, and flower exports to the latter.
The agreement focuses on trade opportunities, targeting to improve the balance of trade currently hugely titled in favour of Saudi Arabia.
The Economic Survey 2020 shows Kenya’s imports from Saudi Arabia were valued at KSh127.2 billion in 2019, which was fourteen times more than the value of Kenya’s exports which totalled KSh8.9 billion.
Other commodities Kenya is keen to export under the agreement are mate and spices, live trees, plants, bulbs, roots, edible fruits, nuts, peel of citrus fruit and melon.
Last month, Kenya held bilateral talks with Gulf countries -Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman— to remove tariffs and logistics constraints to increase export volumes. The country is seeking direct fresh flower exports to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries as it seeks to diversify exports.
Kenya is the world’s third-largest exporter of cut flowers, and the country sells more than 70% of its flowers to Europe. The horticultural sector is Kenya’s third-largest foreign exchange earner. Horticulture sector earnings are the third-largest contributors of foreign exchange in Kenya, after diaspora remittances and income from tourism.
See Also:
