(BRF2023) Kenya, China build up "bigger ecosystem of friendship, partnership" through Belt and Road cooperation: president

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan welcome Kenyan President William Ruto and his wife before a banquet for distinguished guests attending the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Kenya and China are working together to create a "bigger ecosystem of friendship and partnership," Kenyan President William Ruto said here on Tuesday ahead of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

"We build the relationship between people to people and civilizations between our two countries ... and building the bridge between Africa and China," Ruto said.

During the past 10 years since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Kenya has achieved "tangible, practical, realistic outcomes of the BRI," Ruto said.

The Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway has contributed to Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 1.5 percent. The 27-km Nairobi Expressway has also become an integral part of sustainable urban transportation in Kenya, reducing travel time from the south to the west of Nairobi from two hours to just 20 minutes.

The president said he came to Beijing to attend the forum and celebrate the results of 10 fruitful years, to share experiences and learn from what has worked, and to see "how we can do better going into the future," especially in the field of digitalization.

"We believe that it's been a success," Ruto said. "We can escalate that success again building on new avenues of technology and digitalization as part of the BRI" with China.

Ruto arrived in Beijing on Sunday to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.