Nairobi: Kenya and China governments have opened discussions on enhancing bilateral partnerships to boost cooperation in the media sector. State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications Principal Secretary (PS), Prof. Edward Kisiang’ani, said Wednesday that the collaboration will be geared towards economic empowerment, as well as information and knowledge sharing.
According to Kenya News Agency, the Kenyan government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation (BETA) agenda focuses on five core pillars: Agricultural Transformation, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Economy, Housing and Settlement, Healthcare, and Digital Superhighway and Creative Economy. Speaking Wednesday when he hosted the Deputy Chief of Mission of China to Kenya, Zhang Zhizhong, together with Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation CEO Agnes Kalekye, accompanied by Director of Information Joseph Kipkoech, Prof. Kisiang’ani emphasized the need for media to focus on stories that facilitate the economic and social transformation of both countries.
‘China and Kenya both have a lot to share, be it on matters of cultural diversity in their respective countries but also in terms of access to modern technologies in the media industry, such as Artificial Intelligence,’ he said. The platform for the exchange of ideas, the PS noted, is critical through media collaboration, sharing information that can be disseminated via radio and the internet.
The PS highlighted the significant investments China has made in Kenya and expressed optimism that the Ministry of Information, together with Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), could benefit from training, capacity building, and infrastructure upgrades. He stressed the need for an upgrade of the national broadcaster’s facilities, pointing out that ‘if you have an inferior technological setup, news will not be of good quality, and thus support should not just be about human resource development but also about collaborating in terms of getting the right equipment.’
Minister Counsellor Zhang Zhizhong expressed the importance of media sector cooperation as a means for the peoples of the two countries to understand each other better. He noted that Kenya, as an emerging economic power in Africa, presents significant potential for future collaborations, and emphasized the importance of establishing direct links between the media sectors of both nations.
KBC CEO Agnes Kalekye highlighted ongoing proposals with Xinhua and China Media Group on technology transfer. She acknowledged that Xinhua is already providing training on Artificial Intelligence and capacity building to KBC. ‘We are looking at equipment; when you look at our equipment, it’s quite obsolete. They have promised we are going to work together, especially in getting us to the 5G broadcasting,’ she remarked.
China and Kenya’s diplomatic relations were first established in 1963, faced a temporary suspension in 1967, but were ultimately re-established in 1978.