India to lend Kenya $45 mn for industrial development

The Dollar Business Bureau

India to provide $45 million Line of Credit to Kenya to help in developing a textile unit and other small industries, the leaders of two nations said on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta have signed seven trade agreements. 

The two agreements, part of the seven deals signed, were a Line of Credit pact for $15 million to Kenya’s Industrial Development Bank Ltd (IDB) for the development of small scale and medium enterprises (SMEs) and an agreement of Line of Credit for $29.95 million to revive the Rift Valley Textiles (Rivatex) factory in Kenya.

“The ties between the two countries are rich and long-standing. The multi-faceted partnership for development is a major pillar of our bilateral ties. Our priorities for development are more or less same. As a true and trusted partner, India is willing to share its experiences and expertise of development, and concessional credit and capabilities to help Kenya in its development objectives,” Modi said in a press statement.

“We are looking forward for early implementation of the lines of credit, provided by India, for projects in textiles, agricultural mechanisation and for the development of SMEs,” he added.

In a statement, Kenyan President said that the bilateral agreements with India will enhance cooperation in the fields of defence, tourism, immigration, agriculture and trade. 

Among the seven pacts, the two leaders also signed an MoU on Defence Cooperation in order to strengthen the institutional cooperation between the two countries’ defence establishments.

PM Modi further said, “President and I recognize that terrorism and the rapid spread of radical ideologies pose a common challenge to our people, our countries, to the region and to the whole world. We have agreed to deepen our security partnership including in the fields of cyber security, combating drugs and narcotics, and human trafficking.”

PM Modi was on a four-nation tour to Africa as part of his policy push to make India a global player, diplomatically and economically. He returned to New Delhi on Tuesday.