Japanese PM Wraps up Kenyan Tour

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori Friday wound up his three-day state visit to Kenya, the second-leg of the first ever sub-Saharan tour by an incumbent Japanese prime minister.

Before his leaving for Nigeria, his next and last stop in Africa, Mori and Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi signed an agreement at the State House here to extend their bilateral cooperation to the field of information technology.

Mori also donated 31 lorries, 12 Japanese jeeps and 18 water- drilling equipment units worth US$3 million this morning to the east African country, which has been devastated by the most severe drought since its independence in 1963.

"Japan has emerged as the leading partner in Kenya's development," Moi said in an address at Nairobi's international airport before Mori's departure.

The president thanked Mori for his "leadership role" in assisting Kenya to address some of the socioeconomic challenges, including the high incidence of infectious diseases such as HIV/ AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Mori said that his visit to Kenya is crucial to their bilateral relations, especially in the area of development cooperation, according to a statement of the Kenyan Presidential Press Service here.

The Japanese prime minister reiterated that his country will continue to work closely with Kenya on both regional and international issues.

Mori arrived in the east African country on Wednesday from South Africa, where he kicked off his sub-Saharan tour.

He described his Kenya visit as a success, adding he was glad to have visited the Japan-funded projects in the country.

One of his aims is to evaluate the impact of Tokyo's aid on the poorest continent, said the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

Mori is accompanied on his tour by former Japanese UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata. They went to Kakuma in northern Kenya on Thursday to visit a UN refugee camp from war-torn southern Sudan.

In addition to his talks with the host president, Mori also visited the Japan-funded Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in northeast of the capital, and went to Nairobi's Kenya Wildlife Service National Park.

"I have decided to visit Africa based on my firm belief that the stability and prosperity of the world in the 21st century will never be attained without solving the issues that Africa is currently facing," Mori said at an official dinner on Wednesday, repeating a theme he had raised in South Africa.

Japanese bilateral aid to Kenya in 1999 was worth more than 57 million dollars in the forms of loans, grants and technical assistance, according to figures from the Japanese Embassy here.

Tokyo has been Kenya's biggest development cooperation partner since 1986, though there has been a 55 percent downslide from 1994 's 128 million dollars, according to the embassy.

In 1997, Japanese exports to Kenya were worth 181 million dollars.

Japanese state aid to Africa as a whole is on a par with that of the United States and Germany, second only to French assistance. In 1999, it amounted to 994.6 million dollars, representing a 9 percent of all Japan's overseas aid.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/