Chinese authorities are helping Kenya to curb imports of counterfeit goods from China, Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi said on Monday. Kituyi said imports of counterfeit goods were threatening Kenya's own fragile industry and costing the government loss of tax revenues on domestically produced items.
"China National Quality Assurance Agency has been negotiating a memorandum with the Kenya Bureau of Standards which is just about to come into force in the course of this month," Kituyi told reporters after meeting a Chinese trade delegation.
"Through this there is increased pre-shipment inspection and surveillance on the Chinese side in order to weed out unscrupulous traders of counterfeit goods."
African countries complain that cheap Chinese goods are flooding their markets and hurting their fledgling industries. But at the same time, they are increasingly looking towards China as a source of investment and aid.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Chinese leader Hu Jintao last month signed a major economic agreement on technical and economic co-operation, but the details were not made public.
Next week, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki will pay a visit to China to strengthen ties between the two countries, Kituyi said.
Kituyi did not quantify how much counterfeit imports from China cost Kenya, but figures from the Ministry of Trade show government losses of about 6 billion Kenya shillings ($79.05 million) a year. Kenyan manufacturers cite counterfeit imports of items such as ballpoint pens and batteries.
China and Kenya conducted trade worth $360 million in 2004.
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