Union Cabinet approved MoU with Kenya on agriculture and allied sectors

Union Cabinet on 4 January 2017 approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kenya in the field of agriculture and allied sectors.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister in New Delhi.

Highlights of the MoU

The MoU on Agriculture and Allied Sectors covers various activities that include

• Agricultural research
• Animal husbandry and Dairy
• Livestock and fisheries
• Horticulture
• Natural resource management
• Post-harvest management and marketing
• Soil and conservation
• Water management
• Irrigation farming systems development
• Integrated watershed development
• Integrated pest management
• Agricultural plant, machinery and implements
• Sanitary and phytosanitary issues
 
The MoU also provides for constitution of a Joint Working Group (JWG) to develop detailed cooperation programmes. The MoU shall enter into force on the day of signing and shall remain valid for a period of five years.

The MoU shall automatically be renewed for a subsequent period of five years unless either country notifies the other in writing.

India-Kenya relations

• Kenya is an East African nation with Uganda (west), South Sudan (north-west), Ethiopia (north), Somalia (northeast), Tanzania (south) as its neighbours.

• The East African coast and the west coast of India have long been linked by merchants.

• In recent times, there is a growing trade and investment partnership.

• Indian firms have invested in telecommunications, petrochemicals and chemicals, floriculture, etc. and have executed engineering contracts in the power and other sectors.

• An India-Kenya Trade Agreement was signed in 1981, under which both countries accorded Most Favoured Nation status to each other.

• India offers development assistance to Kenya in the form of loans and credit. This includes Lines of Credit by EXIM Bank to Kenya's Industrial Development Bank Capital Ltd.

• The government of India offers over 100 scholarships annually to Kenyan nationals.

• These include scholarships for professional training in various fields under the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme.