NAIROBI, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Monday launched a National Trade Policy that aims to boost the country's foreign exchange earnings, a senior official said Monday.
The new policy adds impetus to the robust trade policy reforms that the country has pursued under regional and multilateral trade arrangements.
"The new trade policy articulates provisions that are geared toward promoting efficiency in the growth of domestic trade through transformational measures that address the constraints impeding against the development of the wholesale, retail and informal sectors," said National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.
Speaking during the opening of the Kenya Trade Week, Rotich said currently most of foreign exchange earnings are from foreign direct investments.
"The national trade policy will help to increase volume of exports so that we increase foreign exchange earnings," he said.
He said the policy will provide a coordinated approach on how the government addresses trade issues in order to improve the business climate for Kenyan manufacturers.
Rotich said that the policy will help reverse the recent trend where the pace of growth of imports is growing faster than the growth of exports.
"This is putting a lot of pressure on the Kenyan shilling as importers need foreign currency to buy imports Wholesale Jerseys ," he said.
Industry and Trade Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed said this will contribute to strengthening of regional integration and will in turn anchor Kenya as a dependable and predictable trading partner.
Mohammed said trade policy was launched at a time when the global trade landscape is facing emerging challenges. Over 70 percent of global trade is made up of manufactured goods.
"Intra-Africa trade averages about 12 percent whilst Kenya's share of both the global pie as well as in Africa has been facing serious bottlenecks leading to a huge balance of trade deficit with most of our trading partner," said Mohammed.
The East African nation's trade imbalance has been increasing in the past decade largely driven by demand for manufactured goods that are imported.
Rotich said that trade imbalance is a serious issue that the government wants to address. He noted that the manufacturing sector presents the best hope for Kenya to increase its exports.
The government data indicates that the manufacturing sector contributes about 10 percent of Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP).
"We plans to double the figure to 20 percent in the next five years by implementing a number of measures," Rotich said.
Besides the policy, the Kenyan government also launched the Buy Kenya Build Kenya Strategy; Guidelines for Kenya's Trade and Investment Missions; the National Export Development and Promotion Strategy for Kenya 2017-2022; the National E-Trade portal; The National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC); and The State Department for Trade Website.
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HAMBURG, Germany, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The 12th Group of 20 (G20) Summit is to be held from Friday to Saturday here in the northern German city of Hamburg. Here is a brief introduction to the group and its summits.
Created in 1999 Cheap Soccer Hats Free Shipping , the G20 is a central forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues. It comprises 19 countries plus the EU. The countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany Cheap Soccer Hoodies Free Shipping , India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia Cheap Soccer Shirts Free Shipping , South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The group, home to almost two-thirds of the world's population, accounts for more than 80 percent of gross world product and 75 percent of global trade.
In 2008, against the backdrop of the global financial crisis Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping , the meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors were raised to the level of heads of state and government for better crisis coordination, with the first summit being held in Washington, the United States in the same year.
As an informal forum, the G20 does not have an administrative council or permanent body. Instead, G20 countries take turns to assume presidency and host the summit.
As the host of this year's summit, Germany took over the presidency from China on Dec. 1, 2016. After Germany Cheap Soccer Hats China , Argentina will take over the presidency and organize the summit in 2018 -- the second time a G20 summit to be held in Latin America following the 2012 Los Cabos Summit in Mexico.
Altogether, a total of 11 G20 summits have been held since 2008. G20 leaders met twice in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, and Toronto and Seoul in 2010. Starting from 2011, the summits have been held once a year in the following places: Cannes, Los Cabos, St Petersburg, Brisbane Cheap Soccer Hoodies China , Antalya, and Hangzhou.
Tackling economic recession, regulating international financial market, combating tax evasion, and boosting development policy have been some of the main topics of these summits.
Themed "Shaping an Interconnected World," the Hamburg summit will focus on such topics as economic, financial Cheap Soccer Shirts China , trade, climate, and development policy. Other issues like digital technology, migration, and counter-terrorism will also be discussed.
China, Germany pledge to take bilateral ties to higher levels