Kenyan president sees 'enormous potential' for trade ties with Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan-Africa Trade Development Conference, jointly organised by the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce and textile in the Kenyan capital Nairobi over the weekend, concluded with identifying a number of sectors for joint cooperation.

The two-day conference was inaugurated by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, which was attended by business delegations from Pakistan besides more than 600 participants from 21 African countries.

To attend the conference, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited Nairobi on January 29 and 30, the Foreign Office said on Saturday. Qureshi co-led the Pakistan delegations along with Prime Minister's Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood.

Kenya is the largest trading partner of Pakistan in Africa. The conference provided 'highly successful' B2B [business to business] and G2G [government to government] sessions,' the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Inaugurating the event, the Kenyan president lauded Pakistan's initiative of hosting the conference and called upon the Kenyans and other African nations to avail of this 'tremendous opportunity to engage commercially and economically' with Pakistan.

'The potential for development of trade and economic ties between Pakistan and Africa is enormous. President Kenyatta, was quoted by the Foreign Office statement as saying. He also announced that he would visit Pakistan soon.

In his remarks at the inaugural session, Qureshi highlighted Pakistan's 'Engage Africa' policy, stating that it was a conscious decision of the government of Pakistan to move in this direction, the statement said.

According to the statement, Qureshi described Kenya as a 'gateway to Africa'.

He affirmed that Pakistan and Kenya, and Africa at large, needed to enhance mutual collaboration to strengthen South-South cooperation.

During his visit, Qureshi also held separate meetings with Kenya's cabinet secretary for east Africa community and regional development; cabinet secretary for industry, trade and cooperatives; and cabinet secretary for foreign affairs.

In the meetings, Qureshi characterised the bilateral relations as excellent, and underlined the need for translating these cordial ties into high-level of economic interaction. He praised Kenya's 'Big 4 agenda', saying that it was similar to Pakistan's development agenda.

The foreign minister identified a number of sectors that would further strengthen the relations between the two countries, including sister-ports...