The Korean government is seeking to connect Nairobi and Seoul through a direct flight, opening tourism opportunities for the country.

Korea’s Special Presidential Envoy for the African Climate Summit, which ended yesterday, Jan Sung Min, said that linking the two countries will remove business bottlenecks that impede economic ties between the two nations.

“We are thinking about it. If we do this, more people will come into Kenya to take part in Kenyan experiences such as the Safari rally. This way, the Kenyan tourism industry will spur,” said Min.

Speaking in Nairobi, the envoy also announced that the Asian country is open to scaling up bilateral trade with the country, narrowing the huge trade imbalance between the two countries.

Korea says its trade volumes with Kenya currently stand at $500 billion. Out of this, Kenya only exports $50 billion worth of goods.

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“We need to balance this kind of imbalance in the trade between our two countries. But more importantly, we need to expand trade between Kenya and Korea because there is a lot of potential,” said Korean ambassador to Kenya Yeo Sung Jun.

The ambassador emphasized the importance of forging closer ties through proactive foreign policy and awareness because Kenya is Africa's entry point.

Kenya exports avocados, tea, and coffee to Korea, as well as technology and renewable energy are a few of the areas of engagement.

To expedite the construction of the Konza Technopolis project, the governments of Kenya and Korea established four Economic Innovation Partnership Programme (EIPP) projects in March.

The Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and Integrated Control Centre, the creation of a startup environment at Konza Technopolis, the growth of smart logistics at Konza, and the development of the Konza-Nairobi Corridor Transport Network were all part of the EIPP projects.

Likewise, the special envoy championed the Korea-Africa summit slotted for next year and its flagship exhibition, dubbed the 2030 Busan Expo, under the banner ‘No single-use plastic Expo’.