Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry Musa Kuria is in Saudi Arabia for a three-day state visit.The CS left Kenya for Riyadh on Monday, December 19.
He tweeted: "My colleagues Majid Al Qassabi, Minister of Trade and Press, and Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Investment, and senior leaders of the public and private sectors welcomed and comforted me."
According to CS Kuria, the visit is aimed at deepening trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.He will hold bilateral talks with his two colleagues, as well as meet with private sector promoters and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is the Saudi Arabian government's economic diversification vehicle for the oil-rich country through strategic international and domestic investments.
Kuria is the second cabinet minister to visit Saudi Arabia this year.
In March, former Secretary of State Rachel Omamo visited the country for talks with her Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
During the visit, Kenya and Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Political Consultations aimed at strengthening existing friendly relations.
The current agreement focuses on trade opportunities aimed at improving the trade balance in favor of Saudi Arabia.
The 2020 Economic Survey showed that Kenya's imports from Saudi Arabia were KES 127.2 billion in 2019, fourteen times the value of Kenya's exports of KES 8.9 billion.
Other commodities that Kenya will export under the agreement are spices and herbs, live trees, plants, onions, roots, edible fruits, nuts, orange peels and melons.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as the fastest growing source of remittances, suggesting that unemployed Kenyan workers are migrating to Kenya, despite abuses and inhumane treatment of foreign workers in Middle Eastern countries.
Kenyans living in Saudi Arabia sent KES 22.65 billion home in the first eight months of the year, according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya, CBK
This is the Gulf country's third largest remittance to Kenya after the UK (KES 25.4 billion) and the United States (KES 188.8 billion).
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