INTERVENTION BY H.E. MWAI KIBAKI, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA AT THE 8TH LEON SULLIVAN SUMMIT AT ARUSHA, TANZANIA, June 4, 2008

Your Excellency, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania,

Excellencies Heads of State and Government,

Ambassador Andrew Young, President of the Leon Sullivan Foundation,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure and honour to be here today to attend the 8th Leon Sullivan Summit. Let me first of all commend His Excellency Jakaya Kikwete and the people of Tanzania for hosting this important summit.

This year?s summit is being held against the background of escalating fuel and food prices which have hit African nations hardest. The theme of this year?s summit: ?Tourism and infrastructure development? is therefore particularly welcome as Africa struggles to attract new and more innovative sources of investments. In many countries around the world, tourism stimulates economic growth and job creation. We in Africa need to position ourselves to benefit from the growing tourism numbers by putting in place measures to develop the tourism sector and related infrastructure.

In Kenya for instance, we have made tourism one of the key pillars of Vision 2030, the country?s blueprint for growth and shared prosperity in the 21st century. The sector earned Kenya over one billion U.S. Dollars in 2007 and contributes immensely towards employment creation and the involvement of local communities in environmental conservation and protection of fauna and flora.

Nevertheless, poor infrastructure remains a major constraint to the development of this important sector. The government is investing a huge amount of resources to upgrade the road network in the national parks and game reserves in order to open up more tourism circuits to our visitors.

With these initiatives, and through the ongoing intensive tourism promotion efforts, we are seeing substantial growth in the number of tourists visiting Kenya and the region as a whole. I would like to invite investors to Kenya to participate in building of new hotels and lodges to accommodate the rapidly increasing tourist numbers.

It is my hope therefore, that by working together with the Leon Sullivan Foundation and other stakeholders, we shall succeed in cultivating new interest in investing in requisite infrastructure. Indeed, there are enormous opportunities in Kenya for investment in the development of new roads through concessioning. This is critical for the proper integration of our countries and diversification of our economies.

In the area of ICT, we in Kenya recognize that the sector has the potential to contribute enormously to the growth of the economy and create thousands of jobs with minimal investment.

The reform policies that the Government has implemented in this sector have rapidly expanded mobile telephone usage with an estimated 12 million users currently. We see the ICT sector as a major contributor to the growth of the economy.

The Government has therefore invested in fibre-optic linkage both nationally and internationally through the East African Marine System. We expect the cost of telecommunications to reduce substantially in the next few years. We are therefore inviting investors in the ICT sector to come to Kenya and invest in this rapidly growing sector.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The energy sector in Kenya is projected to grow at a rate of over 7 percent annually over the next 10 years. This calls for increased investments in additional power, if we are to cope with the growing demand for electricity both in the urban and rural areas.

There are a number of areas that would be of interest to the international investor which I would like to enumerate as follows:

1. Transformer Manufacturing ? due to the rapidly increasing demand for power, the Government projects that up to 60,000 transformers will be required in the next 5 years.
We would like to encourage investors to come to Kenya to explore opportunities for manufacturing of transformers and related equipment such as switch gears, insulators and electricity metres.

The manufacture of such equipment would also benefit from the East African Community and COMESA Markets.

2. Construction of a coal fired power plant ? The Government through the Ministry of Energy has undertaken a feasibility study for the construction of a 300 megawatt coal power plant near Kilindini habour in Mombasa.

This project together with the construction of a coal handling facility provides an opportunity for investors to come to Kenya to explore opportunities for investment in this area.

3. Hydro-power development ? The Government has identified a number of potential sites for hydro-power development. Following the recent escalation of the price of oil, these sites present viable investment projects for generation of up to 200 megawatts of hydro-power.

4. Investment opportunities in renewable energy ? Kenya has developed a vibrant solar energy market over the last few years for both electricity generation and water heaters. There is also great potential for wind power generation.

The Government is inviting private investors to invest in wind power electricity generation as well as in the manufacture of solar panels and related equipment.

With regard to the construction industry in East Africa, the demand for building materials especially cement has increased tremendously. Therefore investment opportunities exist in this industry which has a ready market.

We are also pursuing reforms aimed at securing greater participation of the private sector in our economies. In this connection, cooperation amongst stock exchanges in the community is one of the ways of mobilizing private capital to fund infrastructure.

We therefore welcome investors who can participate in these investment opportunities through the existing stock exchanges. There are many other opportunities for investment in agro-processing and packaging of tea, coffee, nuts and edible oils. We would also like to invite investors to come to Kenya to help us in the development of low-cost housing for our people.

Before concluding my remarks, allow me to mention that educational facilities in the region have continued to grow both in numbers and student population. This growth, does not meet the demand.

There is need for sharing of experiences and best practices between African and American institutions through twinning and exchange programmes to benefit more students.

The African diaspora has become an important link to the development of the continent. We are already witnessing their contribution through remittances, transfer of technology and investments. We wish to encourage African-Americans and other Africans in the diaspora to exploit the investment opportunities available in the region.

Finally, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the delegates and members of the media, to visit my country, Kenya to sample some of our diverse tourist attractions that have won worldwide acclamation.

I thank you all for your attention.