In addition to six agreements on food security, mining, and renewable energy, Kenya has negotiated a contract with Indonesia to manufacture and distribute drugs and vaccines as the nation revamps its pharmaceutical industry.
Following bilateral discussions between President William Ruto and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, agreements were reached that will allow Kenya’s Biovax and Indonesia’s BioFarma to work together to produce pharmaceuticals and other vaccinations for easy access between the two nations.
The two businesses will examine the marketing of the vaccine portfolio that BioFarma will produce in Kenya under the terms of a health memorandum of agreement (MoU).
The government has committed up to Ksh2 billion ($13.85 million), according to the Health Ministry, to the Biovax project, whose main goal is to produce COVID-19 vaccines and other shots.
The most recent development occurs as Kenya’s government pushes for local health product manufacturing to reduce excessive importation and generate employment.
To ensure that we build the capacity to produce vaccines and other pharmaceutical items for our nations, we need to collaborate and include the private sector. President Ruto added, “We should never find ourselves in the situation we were during the COVID-19 pandemic, lacking the infrastructure to create our vaccinations.
To strengthen regulatory collaboration for pharmaceutical products, the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the Indonesia Food and Drug Authority also signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
“Business is open in Kenya. The continued relaxation and gradual abolition of visa requirements between our two countries must be seen as a crucial step in this direction. According to Dr. Ruto, Kenya has decided to provide visa-free entrance to all holders of diplomatic passports.
The two nations also agreed to cooperate in mining and geology, which will involve cooperative research projects, knowledge sharing, and capacity building.
The two nations also spoke about investing and trading, as well as working together in both higher and primary education.
Six additional Memorandums of Understanding were signed between our trade facilitation institutions during this visit in the following sectors: oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, edible oils, agriculture including livestock exports, and garment manufacturing, according to President Ruto. “To entrench business-to-business relations that are the lifeblood of thriving inter-state cooperation,” he added.
In addition, the President disclosed that Nairobi and Jakarta were finalizing the specifics of a potential preferential trade pact.
We also talked about how crucial it is to sign a bilateral investment agreement that will create a secure and predictable climate for investing since this is a requirement for accelerating private sector investment. Within the following 90 days, we have charged our combined teams with finishing the drafting of this document.
With a favorable trade balance with Kenya, Indonesia expects to send $580 million (Ksh83.75 billion) worth of commodities to Nairobi by the year 2021, with palm oil serving as the primary export.
As local demand for cooking oil has continued to climb, the nation’s exports to Kenya, which comprise hot-rolled iron bars and stearic acid, have increased at an annualized pace of 14.5% over the past 26 years.
The ‘Mama Pima’ edible oil initiative was officially launched in Nairobi after the bilateral negotiations by government representatives. The project, which is a collaboration between the governments of Kenya and Indonesia, intends to give traders access to cooking oil ATMs so they may offer the product to consumers for inexpensive costs.
