Egypt hopes to collaborate with Kenya’s Kisumu shipyard on shipbuilding projects, as well as share technical ideas between the two countries.
An Egyptian military delegation visited Kenya earlier this month to discuss joint future Egyptian-Kenyan military cooperation projects with intent to exchange expertise and experience.
Photos published on social media shows the Egyptian and Kenyan soldiers interacting during the visit at the Kisumu shipyard. Mombasa Shipyard was developed in partnership with Damen.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta inauguated Kenya Shipyards Limited (KSL) Mombasa Shipyard on 17 December. KSL will help Kenya’s ‘blue water economy’ programme, to develop the country’s maritime sector as it will be able to build, refit, and repair civilian vessels.
The pace of cooperation between Egypt and Kenya has grown in recent years. The two countries held a round of political consultations April 12, followed April 19 by a visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Nairobi to discuss the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Talks between both Nile Basin nations first began in June last year, when Kenya’s Minister of Defense Monica Juma announced on May 26 the signing of a military cooperation agreement with Egypt, during a meeting with a high-ranking Egyptian military delegation headed by Chief-of-Staff Gen. Mohamed Farid in Nairobi.
Egypt’s military confirmed the agreement in a May 30 statement, noting the Farid had met with his Kenyan counterpart Robert Kibochi, with whom he co-chaired the closing session of the Egyptian-Kenyan Military Committee’s meeting in Nairobi.
The Kenyan Ministry of Defense said that the agreement aims at “deepening partnership [between the two countries] in matters of mutual benefit.”
Also, in September last year, a Kenyan military delegation visited the Egypt Defence Exhibition (EDEX), where officials of the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) discussed potential roles in the localization of manufacturing, technology, and training in Kenya.
KSL Mombasa Shipyard facility has the country’s longest slipway for construction, repair, refitting and maintenance. It also has two ship-building hangers, one 150 meters long and 30 meters high and a smaller one 120 meters long, 20 meters high and 13 meters wide.
The shipyard has four main workshops – an electronic repair workshop, a marine and general engineering workshop, a fitting and carpentry workshop and a hull and superstructure repair workshop.
The country has already trained teams of specialized workers in shipfitting and welding to meet the yard’s labor needs.