Kenya's Turkana governor thanks China for zero tariffs in meeting with Chinese Ambassador Guo Haiyan

Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Guo Haiyan met Turkana County Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai on 28 October and Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya on 30 October, the Chinese Embassy in Kenya said in two notices on its website. Lomorukai used the first meeting to thank China for its zero-tariff policy.

The embassy's Chinese-language notice, posted on 29 October, says Guo told Lomorukai and his delegation that China and Kenya are carrying out the consensus reached by their heads of state and building a China–Kenya community with a shared future for the new era. She said local-level cooperation has great potential.

Guo said the embassy supports the two sides in exploring practical cooperation in culture, education and new energy to benefit local people.

Lomorukai said Turkana attaches great importance to friendship with China and that cooperation across many fields rests on a good foundation and has broad prospects. He said the county hopes to learn from China's development experience and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods.

On 1 May China began applying zero-tariff treatment to all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties, Guo wrote in an opinion piece published that day. Under an announcement by the State Council's Customs Tariff Commission, China applies zero-tariff treatment from 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2028 to 20 African countries with diplomatic ties that are not least developed countries. For products under tariff quotas, only the in-quota rate falls to zero. China has applied zero tariffs on 100 per cent of tariff lines to 33 least developed African countries since 1 December 2024.

Kenya also has its own arrangement with China. On 24 March, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry, Lee Kinyanjui, signed an Early Harvest Arrangement of the Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Development, China's Ministry of Commerce said. Under it, China will apply zero-tariff treatment on 100 per cent of tariff lines for Kenya, and Kenya will open its market further to Chinese products.

The second notice, published in English on 30 October, covers Guo's meeting with Mvurya, the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports. Elijah Mwangi, Principal Secretary for Sports, and other officials attended.

Guo briefed Mvurya on recent China–Kenya relations. She said this year is the Year of China-Africa People-to-People Exchanges and that the two countries have held several joint events under it. Youth affairs, the creative economy and sports, she said, "serve as bridges for fostering ties between the two sides", and China is ready to expand cooperation with its Kenyan counterparts.

Mvurya praised China–Kenya relations and thanked China for its "long-standing support in the area of youths, creative economy and sports", the notice says. He pledged to deepen exchanges with China.