Investment opportunities abound in east Africa, says Kenyan president

Due to the liberalized economies in east Africa, investment opportunities in the region were abound especially within the framework of the East African Community, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said here on Friday when he held talks with U. S. Senator Barrack Obama.

According to a press release by the Kenyan Presidential Press Service (PPS), Kibaki underlined the existing excellent relations between Kenya and the United States, noting that it provided a strong reason for increased investment opportunities for Americans in the country.

"We would like this interaction between Kenya and the United States to translate into business opportunities for our people," said the president.

At the same time, Kibaki appealed to Washington to support the ongoing peace talks in Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

The U.S. senator commended Kenya's democratic progress, saying it provided an enabling environment for increased investments, said the PPS statement.

Obama, whose late father was born and raised in Kenya, arrived in Nairobi late Thursday. This is the second leg of his African tour, which includes South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti and Chad.

His Kenyan roots and the fact that he is the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate have greatly raised the profile of his visit. Born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, Obama is the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history.

The senator, also a member of U.S. Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States was increasing its support for Kenya in the health sector from 200 million U.S. dollars to 300 million U.S. dollars in acknowledgment of the progress the country had made in reducing the HIV/AIDS infection rate.

Obama is expected to fly to Kisumu city in west Kenya on Saturday where he will undergo an HIV test to promote HIV/AIDS prevention before proceeding for a private visit to his father's home in Nyangoma-Kogelo near Kisumu, where his father, a goat herder who went on to study at Harvard University, grew up.

The lakeside city of Kisumu has one of Kenya's highest rates of HIV prevalence.

Kibaki welcomed Obama to the country of his roots and wished him a pleasant stay. He recalled with nostalgia the days he worked with the senator's father Barrack Obama Senior in the Ministry of Planning soon after Kenya's independence.

Obama's father became a university lecturer in Uganda after studying economics at Harvard University. He then worked in Kenya's private sector before joining the Kenyan government, where he became a senior economist. He died in a car crash in 1982.

Source: Xinhua