May I request that we kindly take our seats. After bilateral talks between Kenya and Malaysia, His Excellency the President together with the Honorable Prime Minister will deliver a joint press statement. But before that, we have an exchange of MOUs. So at this point, allow me to invite His Excellency Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs on behalf of the Republic of Kenya to just stand at the marked position together with Senator Dato' Sri Utama Tengku Zafrul bin Tengku Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry on behalf of the government of Malaysia. We may present the MOUs now.
The bilateral air service agreement between the government of the Republic of Kenya and the government of Malaysia. The objective of the agreement is to establish a regulatory framework under which designated airlines between Kenya and Malaysia will operate international air transport service between and beyond the respective territories. May I kindly request that Your Excellency Musalia Mudavadi, you may take your seat, but let's have Tengku Zafrul remain in his position.
At this point, allow me to invite Honorable Rebecca Miano, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife on behalf of the Republic of Kenya. You may present the memorandum of understanding in the field of tourism between the government of the Republic of Kenya and the government of Malaysia. The objective of the MOU is to promote and develop cooperation in the field of tourism between the two countries. May I kindly request that Honorable Rebecca Miano, you may take your seat, but let's still have Tengku Zafrul remain in his position.
And at this point, allow me to invite Honorable Salim Mvurya, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, Sports on behalf of the Republic of Kenya. The MOU is between the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The objective, as they exchange, the objective of the MOU is to promote trade and investment relations between the two countries. Thank you. May I request Honorable Salim Mvurya to maintain your position as I request Tengku Zafrul to take his seat.
At this point, allow me to invite Dato' Sri Dr. Zaliha Mustafa to take her position. Now this is a letter of intent between Nairobi City County and Kuala Lumpur City Hall. They may exchange, and a clap would be good. The objective of this instrument between the two cities is to formally express their mutual interest and commitment to cooperate in specific areas of common interest. Thank you very much. I'll request that you both take your seats and at this point allow me to invite His Excellency the President for the joint press statement. Welcome, sir.
Thank you very much, Your Excellency Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, and your distinguished delegation. Ladies and gentlemen, Kenya is honored to host you, Your Excellency, on this historic visit, the first by a Malaysian Prime Minister in nearly two decades and one that coincides with our celebration of 60 years of Kenya-Malaysia diplomatic relations. Our discussions today, ladies and gentlemen, reinforced our long-standing friendship while charting an ambitious future together. We agreed to elevate our bilateral architecture by upgrading to a strategic bilateral partnership, ensuring that our cooperation advances with purpose and structure.
We reaffirmed our commitment to removing tariff and non-tariff barriers, expanding Kenyan exports to Malaysia and vice versa, and deepening cooperation in digital technology and high-tech manufacturing. In this regard, I welcome Your Excellency's agreement to eliminate tariffs on agricultural produce and beef, a significant step that will open new market opportunities for Kenyan farmers and strengthen the commercial foundation of our partnership.
The removal of these tariffs, Mr. Prime Minister, is especially significant given the structure of our current trade where Kenya's main exports to Malaysia include tea, coffee, flowers, avocados, titanium ores, and beef. While imports from Malaysia consist primarily of edible oils and fats, chemical products, electronic agricultural chemicals, and rubber. This profile underscores the importance of the potential of broadening our commercial ties.
Our engagement culminated in the signing of the agreements you have witnessed here. A bilateral air service agreement to expand connectivity and ease of travel between our two countries to boost trade and tourism. A second MOU on tourism cooperation to strengthen two-way tourism investment and joint destination marketing. A letter of intent on the twinning of Nairobi and Kuala Lumpur to enhance city-level cooperation in urban planning, technology, and service delivery. And an MOU between the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia to deepen private sector partnership and unlock new business opportunities. And I know, Prime Minister, you will be attending the business forum between the two chambers and our business people, and together these instruments mark the beginning of a broader and deeper strategic partnership for mutual benefit.
This visit comes at a defining moment for Kenya as we advance a new national roadmap inspired by the experience of Malaysia and other Asian tiger nations that rose through discipline, strategy, and a commitment to excellence. In our discussions, we agreed that Malaysia will explore partnerships and investments across our key priority areas, including collaboration in STEM and in research and matters education. And I want to commend you, Mr. Prime Minister, that you will be meeting with some of our education stakeholders later today as part of our human capital development that is central to Kenya's development.
Last week we did unveil a new plan that's going to get our human capital to develop at a rate that is going to be commensurate with the development we want to undertake in the next 10 to 15 years. The Prime Minister has said we'll be engaging with stakeholders as part of that effort.
We also agreed to strengthen the semiconductor bilateral relationship as part of Kenya's human capital development and manufacturing including industrial agenda through a strategic partnership. Malaysia will support Kenya to grow and expand its semiconductor technology and manufacturing capabilities, including the experience we already have, as I mentioned to you, Mr. Prime Minister, with one of our universities, Kiambu University, that has already courses in that field. And thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, for accepting to support Kenya with training opportunities for our engineers and high-level professionals to support industrialization as part of the diversification of our economy, walking in the footsteps of what your country has done.
I was looking at the numbers. Your country was an agricultural country like Kenya. But today you stand out because you have diversified your economy and today you export manufactured goods to America and to many other destinations. And I want to tell you, Mr. Prime Minister, we are walking in the footsteps of Malaysia and we hope to catch up with you soon.
As part of our broader transformation agenda, I have invited Malaysian private sector to participate in public-private partnerships including investments in road network expansion. And I have informed the Prime Minister that some of your big engineering companies are welcome to work with us as we expand our highways by another 2,500 kilometers and another 28,000 kilometers of road around Kenya. There will be opportunities for public-private partnership. There will be opportunities for investment and I know that the huge private sector team that came with you will be looking at these opportunities and finding how they can work with their Kenyan counterparts.
Additionally, we exchanged views on regional peace, security, and multilateral cooperation. We acknowledged Malaysia's efforts in the Eastern Asia region and Kenya's peace efforts in East and the Horn of Africa. We also expressed support for America's and President Trump's intervention in the Sudan crisis which has now escalated into a very serious humanitarian catastrophe.
We also reaffirmed our shared commitment on the reform of the global financial architecture and the reform of the United Nations. Africa has demanded two permanent seats on the UN Security Council with full rights including the power of veto as well as two additional non-permanent seats. With 54 countries and a population of 1.4 billion people, it is both unfair and undemocratic for the continent to remain excluded from the world's top decision-making body. I conveyed our appreciation for Malaysia for supporting the upgrade and expansion of the United Nations office in Nairobi, the only UN office headquarters presence in the global south. Likewise, the international financial architecture must be reformed and democratized to ensure that Africa and the wider global south are treated equitably so that they can access concessional financing at scale just as members of the global north do.
Your Excellency, your presence in Nairobi is a powerful affirmation that Kenya's ambition meets Malaysia's experience at exactly the right moment. As we rise, we draw inspiration from nations like yours that embraced bold ambition over limitation, and excellence instead of mediocrity. Kenya now stands ready to take its place among nations that we started with like your own nation.
When I made a comment in parliament last week that you were visiting our country, there was tremendous applause because we have been having a big conversation in Kenya about where we are and where we should be. And I am very proud that today we have you right here in Kenya. So that even as we have this conversation, we can bring it home with your presence here. That Malaysia, which was an agricultural country like Kenya 60 years ago, today has an economy 20 times larger than ours, has an economy that is diversified, has a GDP per capita that is maybe also 20 times higher than ours. And we say this because we believe we can do it the same way your country did it.
And I am very encouraged. I am inspired when I look at you, Prime Minister, look at what Malaysia has been able to achieve and the steps you have taken, the decisions you have made as a country, the path that you have chosen that has made you the country that you are today and as a people. We associate ourselves with Malaysia in many ways and as you have asked me, I will be visiting, by God's grace, I will be visiting your country next year and I will carry quite a bit of the private sector with me and many others so that when I discuss with the people of Kenya the housing program where the greatest inspiration came from Singapore and Malaysia, they can come and see what Malaysia has done on the housing program. They can come and see the kind of human resource development that you have done. They can also come and see what you have done in matters health even as we drive our own universal health coverage here in Kenya. It is among us the lessons that we have learned from your country.
And Mr. Prime Minister, I will also have the opportunity, because I've been to your country three times, for Kenyans to see the kind of infrastructure, modern infrastructure that you have put up in your country and the one that we are envisioning as Kenya. And it is really a proud moment for me as I engage with you because you bring home the many things that we have been discussing as a country, as to the possibilities of what can be achieved if the right decisions are made. If we don't compromise, if we don't settle for the average, if we eliminate mediocrity and we make the decisions that will take our country forward. Mr. Prime Minister, I express my deepest appreciation to His Majesty King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan, to Your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister, your government, and the people of Malaysia for this very important brotherly visit. Welcome.
