South Korean strengthens ties with Kenya

The University of Nairobi is to establish a South Korean Study Centre following an agreement with the Korean Foundation, an independent organisation affiliated to South Korea's foreign affairs ministry, set up in 1991 to promote academic and cultural exchange programmes.

The announcement was made in Nairobi by higher education minister Margaret Kamar and visiting South Korean premier Kim Hwang-Sik after the signing of the deal.

Kamar said that the centre would be the focus of cooperation and exchange in education, and will incorporate an institute of science and technology. Hwang-Sik pledged further support to Kenya for education and culture, and said that the Nairobi study centre will contribute to a mutual understanding between the two countries.

The deal with South Korea also provides for the establishment of a nuclear science, technology and geological mining institute on the Taita Taveta campus of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi.

Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki has also asked the South Korean government to consider investing in Kenya’s new Lamu port project and the ambitious Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopian Transport Corridor (LAPSSET).