The Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, on Monday launched the National Trade Policy.

The launch of the pdf National Trade Policy (4.29 MB)  took place during the first day of the three-day Kenya Trade Week, an event that has brought together prominent players and stakeholders in the trade sector under the theme, “Transforming Kenya into a Competitive Export-Led and Efficient Economy”.

“The new Trade Policy articulates provisions that are geared toward promoting efficiency in the growth of domestic trade through transformational measures that address the constraints impeding against the development of the wholesale, retail and informal sectors,” said National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Henry Rotich, who was speaking on behalf of H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The new Trade Policy adds impetus to the robust trade policy reforms that the country has pursued under regional and multilateral trade arrangements and translates to Kenya’s commitments at regional and multilateral level to solidify policy measures and create opportunity for their domestication through the various instruments that are proposed.

This will contribute to strengthening of regional integration and will in turn anchor Kenya as a dependable and predictable trading partner.

“The National Trade Policy is being launched at a time when the global trade landscape is facing emerging challenges. Over 70% of global trade is made up of manufactured goods. Intra-Africa trade averages about 12% whilst Kenya’s share of both the global pie as well as in Africa has been facing serious bottlenecks leading to a huge balance of trade deficit with most of our trading partner,” said Principal Secretary, State Department of Trade – Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary, Adan Mohammed.

Apart from the launch of the National Trade Policy, the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, also launched and unveiled:

pdf Buy Kenya Build Kenya Strategy (2.10 MB)

pdf Guidelines for Kenya’s Trade and Investment Missions, First Edition 2017 (1.65 MB)

pdf National Export Development and Promotion Strategy for Kenya 2017-2022 (5.52 MB)

pdf NTF Committee and Its Thematic Working Groups: Three-year Budget, 2017-2020 (880 KB)

The National E-Trade Portal

The State Department for Trade Website

Moreover, the Buy Kenya Expo will run through the whole week.

“We urge all Kenyans to come and take part in this year’s Trade Week. We have a host of products and exhibitors drawn from varied parts of the country and this offers a great opportunity for us to support our local trade sector,” said Principal Secretary, State Department of Trade – Dr. Chris Kiptoo.

The National Trade Policy spells out complementarity with other sectors and provides a framework for these sectors to adopt policies that complement rather than compete with each other.

This trade policy in particular introduces a trade agenda in several sectors such as agriculture, industry, infrastructure and ICT.