Kenya is looking to create a direct linkage of fresh flower cuts from farmers to United Arab Emirates and the other five Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries as it seeks to diversify exports. The government is holding bilateral talks with GCC countries -Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman— to remove tariffs and logistics constraints to increase export volumes.
Currently, over 70 percent of the country’s flowers are exported to the Netherlands with only less than one percent into GCC. The country is eyeing the projected demand from the gulf region with over 54 million population, available cold storage facilities and direct flights, especially between Kenya and UAE.
“We are looking at huge opportunities at GCC region. There is huge consumer power and buying opportunities in this part of the world,” Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (Keproba) chairman Jaswinder Bedi said during the ongoing Expo 2020 Dubai.
“We are holding a GCC business forum and we hope to achieve partnership through business-to-business matches.”
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