"We wish to develop alongside China, " said Francis Ole Kaparo, speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, in an interview with Xinhua Tuesday at the conclusion of his visit to Beijing.

Kaparo, head of a Kenyan parliamentary delegation to China from Aug. 20 to 27, is here as guest of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body.

Kaparo, who first visited China in 2000, said he had "very good" talks with Wu during their meeting Monday evening, and that they had discussed wide-ranging topics, especially mutually beneficial cooperation.

Wu told Kaparo that China attaches great importance to relations with Kenya which is an important country in east Africa.

Wu said China considers Kenya to be an important cooperation partner in Africa, and "China is willing to work with Kenya to further traditional friendship and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation."

Kaparo said in return that it has been Kenya's long-term policy to develop Kenya-China relations, and Kenya appreciates the achievements that China has made since its began its reform and opening-up policy and is willing to learn from that experience.

During the meeting, Kaparo encouraged Chinese businessmen to invest in Kenya and said it can provide favorable investment conditions.

China and Kenya set up diplomatic relations as early as 1963, and Kaparo recalled that "China was among the first countries to open an embassy in Kenya."

The relations between China and Kenya have progressed constantly since then. Ties between the two countries became closer and they had more high-level exchanges once China's reform and opening-up policy started to come into effect in the late 1970s.

"In recent years, the friendship has grown stronger." said the speaker, adding that Kenya looks forward to more cooperation in trade, commerce and culture.

China-Kenya trade volume in 2005 amounted to 475 million U.S. dollars, up 29.7 percent year on year. Bilateral trade in the first half of this year reached 253 million U.S. dollars, up 25.7 percent year on year.

Agriculture, services and industry are mainstays of Kenya's economy, and tea, coffee and flower are three major foreign currency earners.

Popular Chinese export products include machinery, textiles, agricultural tools and consumable goods while the main imports from Kenya are fruit, scrap copper, cotton, hide and skin, coffee and tea.

Kaparo told Xinhua that the Chinese economy is developing very fast and that China has a big population, while developing countries in Africa constitute a big market and a source of products that are seeking markets outside the continent.

"We began to look around the world", and "Africa needs to industrialize", said Kaparo.

He said "we should focus our attention on adding value to products."

"China is a developing country like us, yet its development is much greater than ours," said Kaparo, stressing that "our relations (with China) are getting much warmer and more tangible", which will benefit the two peoples.

He encouraged exchanges between parliamentarians from the two sides, and said friendship groups have been set up within the two parliaments.

He said members of the parliament come from the people and can communicate directly with the people, so mutual understandings can be swiftly transmitted to the grassroots level.

During the meeting, Wu, who visited Kenya in October 2004, said the NPC is willing to further friendly exchanges with Kenya's National Assembly and maintain close cooperation in international and regional parliamentary organizations.

He said he hopes the two parliaments can make new contributions to promoting relations between the two countries.

Besides Beijing, Kaparo will also visit Hunan Province in central China and Guangdong, the country's most developed area.

Kaparo said he is pleased to have the opportunity to know more about China and its "friendly" and "hardworking" people.

Source: Xinhua