The United Kingdom intends to double the value of trade with Kenya in the next five years, High Commissioner, Christian Turner has said.
Turner said this will involve provision support to local retailers wishing to forge links with British companies.

Turner was speaking during the opening of the first local store of UK shoe retailer Clarks Footwear at the Thika Road Mall.

Trade between Kenya and the UK is valued at £1 billion (Sh130 billion). Turner said the target is to increase it to £2 billion (Sh260 billion) by 2017.

The envoy said the existing trade ties are still a major part of the bilateral relations between the UK and Kenya.

“The opening of the first Clarks store in sub-Sahara Africa by Nakumatt Holdings is a clear testimony of the British government’s commitment to foster win-win partnerships with Kenya,” Turner said.

“We will also encourage partnerships between retailers such as Nakumatt and several leading British companies wishing to expand their market,” Established in 1825 by brothers James and Cyrus Clark, the Clarks Footwear brand has evolved into a leading global footwear retailer with sales in excess of £1.4billion.

Nakumatt Holdings recently announced plans to; aggressively pursue a departmental store development project at an investment cost of Sh1.2 billion as part of the firm’s revenue diversification strategy.

Nakumatt’s strategy and operations director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy said plans are underway to open three Skechers footwear stores to complete the first phase of the footwear departmental stores rollout.