NEW DELHI: India and Kenya held the second round of Foreign Office Consultation here on Friday and reviewed political, economic, cultural, defence, and people-to-people relations between the two countries.
The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (E&SA) Puneet R Kundal and Paul Ndung’u, Director, Asia, Australasia and Pacific Directorate of Kenya, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
“They reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations including political, economic, cultural, defence, people to people, trade & investment and other issues of common interest,” the MEA said.
Both sides reiterated the need for increasing cooperation in emerging sectors such as health, tourism, space, blue economy, new and renewable energy, agro-processing, traditional medicine, and vaccine production among others.
Both sides welcomed the discussions at the official level in the Joint Trade Commission in October 2021 and expressed their hope that the meeting at the ministerial level will be held soon to give a further boost to expanding trade and investment relations between the two countries, the ministry stated.
The two countries also discussed regional and global issues including increasing bilateral cooperation in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Regional issues pertaining to the East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA), and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) also featured in the discussions.
India and Kenya emphasized the need for continuing high-level political exchanges between the two countries in order to further boost bilateral cooperation in all spheres.
They also agreed to expedite the MOUs pending with each side and explore new areas of cooperation between the two countries.
The next consultation will be convened in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. The East African state that shares a coastline with the Indian ocean hosts an Indian diaspora of considerable size.
India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar visited Kenya in June 2021 and attended the India-Kenya Joint Commission. Prior to his visit, India sent over 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Kenya under the COVAX initiative.