Predating the Iranian revolution of 1979, Kenya was and has been the second largest trading partner for Iran in Africa, after South Africa
President Ebraim Raisi, the President of the Islamic State of Iran and his delegation left the country this evening after a short state visit to Kenya, where he met his Kenyan counterpart President William Ruto at State House in Nairobi .
Predating the Iranian revolution of 1979, Kenya was and has been the second largest trading partner for Iran in Africa, after South Africa. This relation is formulated on Kenya’s export of Tea to Iran in exchange of oil, carpets and chemicals.
The visit to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda is an outreach by President Raisi in a quest of finding new trade partners, in light of crippling US sanctions placed on his country in 2018. Iran’s trade with the African continent is predicted to increase by 2 Billion dollars in the year 2023 alone.
The Iranian leader’s visit comes hot on the heels of the recent Tea Summit chaired by DP Rigathi Gachagua where a lack of new markets for Kenyan tea was a major issue.
Apart from plotting to enhance its trade with Iran by increasing volumes of exported tea and more agricultural products to the West Asian nation, Kenya also inked a number memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran in the areas of fisheries, agriculture, ICT, culture, and housing.
In addition, Tehran will setup a vehicle assembly plant in Mombasa after signing an agreement with the Kenyan Government to manufacture Iranian-made vehicles dubbed Kifaru.
