State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Fujii Hisayuki
and acting Investments CS Salim Mvurya at the launch of Kenya-Japan Business Forum
2025 at Serena Hotel on January 16, 2025/LEAH MUKANGAI
State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Fujii Hisayuki and acting Investments CS Salim Mvurya have officially opened the Kenya-Japan Business Forum 2025 in Nairobi.
The meeting mirrors a similar forum, held in Tokyo, Japan in February in 2024 that brought together over 140 Japanese and 40 Kenyan private sector companies.
President William Ruto and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi led the Kenyan delegation.
The 2025 forum provides a pivotal opportunity to bilateral economic relations between Kenya and Japan through exchange of knowledge, insights, and innovative ideas, showcasing Kenya’s rich investment opportunities to attract Japanese investors.
Through this engagement, Kenya aims to attract increased investment, technology transfer, and market access, fostering industrialisation and economic transformation in line with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
This year’s forum brings together over 100 Kenyan and 30 Japanese private sector companies drawn from various sectors including ICT, health, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, financial services, energy, construction, insurance and agriculture sectors, among others from January 15-17, 2025.
It further provides an opportunity for the visiting delegation to be sensitised on incentives provided by the Government of Kenya to promote foreign investments, as well as facilitate business-tobusiness and government-to business matchmaking to promote and foster partnerships between the two nations.
Some of the notable companies from Japan include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries France S.A.S. that focuses on energy, aerospace, and plant systems, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., that engages in shipbuilding, aerospace, and energy systems, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which engages in trading and construction projects, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., which engages in trading and project development; Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd., which operates foodservice chains, Hagihara Industries Inc., that produces polyethylene products and industrial machinery and NYK Line, which provides shipping, logistics and real estate services, among others.
Principal Secretaries Abubakar Hassan (State Department for Investments Promotion and Dr. A. Korir SingOei (State Department for Foreign Affairs) accompanied the Cabinet Secretary.
In 2024, Kenyan private sector at the Kenya-Japan Business Forum in Tokyo assured of its commitment to fortify economic ties with Japan.