Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the economic ties between Kenya and the UK.

Mutual prosperity is one of the five pillars of the UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership. The 150 UK companies operating in Kenya employ over 250,000 Kenyans and are significant contributors to Kenya's economy.

UK-Kenya trade is worth over £1 billion annually. The Economic Partnership Agreement, open to all East African Community member states, will help increase government-to-government dialogue on how to boost trade. It also helped maintain trade through the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring Kenya's exports entered the UK tariff-free following our departure from the EU.

Through TradeMark East Africa, £33 million of UK investment at Mombasa port in partnership with the Kenya Ports Authority, has brought the average cargo turnaround down from 12 days to 3, improving the flow of trade with Kenya and the wider region. UK companies welcomed the digitising of Kenya's customs system which has reduced corruption opportunities by delivering transparency and efficiency.

Kenya receives the third largest amount of British International Investment - £305 million to date. This is set to grow with new, honest and reliable, investment to help meet Kenya's infrastructure needs. As part of the UK-Kenya Infrastructure Partnership, UK urban infrastructure specialists KPMG and ARUP are taking forward the development of the 425 Acre Nairobi Railway city. The UK company Atkins is supporting the first phase of this project: designing a new Nairobi Railway Station.