The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is looking at having a Preferential Trade Agreement with India to allow the entry of locally made goods and especially privileged ones to the Indian market. This comes in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day state visit to Kenya that began on July 10. Modi’s visit renewed trade ties with the world’s seventh-largest economy. Both government and the private sector want the two countries to agree on the PTA which Kenya feels would help bridge the huge trade imbalance that is in favour of India, Kenya’s second-largest source of imports.

Last year, the value of imports from India stood at Sh252.5 billion that was a drop of 2.3 per cent from Sh264.5 billion a year earlier, a data from the Economic Survey 2016 shows. This was against Sh8.9 billion in exports although this was a marginal rise from Sh8.7 billion in 2014. KAM chief executive Phyllis Wakiaga said that said such a deal would increase Kenyan exports to India Kenya and India do not have a Preferential Trade Agreement. Hence, for Kenya to have duty access to India and vice versa, a Preferential Trade Agreement would be required. The manufacturers also aim to increase leather and textile exports to India if the proposed PTA is agreed on.