Kenya, Colombia partners to boost coffee farming

Kenya will work with Colombia to draw lessons from its coffee production and value addition.

This is after a sideline meeting between President William Ruto and Colombia’s President Colombia Gustavo Petro in Paris, France, during the Global Pact Finance Summit.

The two presidents agreed to explore new areas of cooperation including trade and agriculture.

“Kenya will work with Colombia, one of the globe’s top coffee producers to draw lessons from its production and value addition so as to improve our exports. We believe this will boost earnings and support more livelihoods,” Ruto said.

In May, Kenya and Colombia signed agreements to help them boost trade and knowledge exchange in various sectors of the economy.

The MoUs were signed during a meeting between Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Colombian Vice President Franica Elena Marquez Mina.

Among the agreements signed were the establishment of a Joint Commission for Cooperation, and Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.

Further, they signed declarations to work together in training Spanish, promotion of culture, tourism, higher learning, trade and investment and mining.

To strengthen trade ties between the two nations, the two leaders committed to engaging the relevant national authorities on the establishment of direct flights.

The relations will further be strengthened through scholarships in specific areas of expertise.

Marquez said the two countries have gone through similar socioeconomic challenges, adding that opportunities for collaboration will benefit citizens toward sustainable development.    BY THE STAR