This week’s visit follows trips made to the region last year by Senator Gorst when he was Chief Minister.
The Island’s previous diplomatic engagement with Kenya and Rwanda resulted in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Jersey and the Rwandan Government, and an agreement to transfer £3.5 million of stolen funds that had been held in Jersey back to
Kenya.
In November, Chief Minister John Le Fondré said that Jersey would be seeking permission from the UK government to develop a bilateral trade agreement of its own with the Rwandan government.
Senator Gorst is due to hold discussions at ministerial level with Rwandan counterparts in order to progress this ambition. He will also be signing other bilateral agreements on behalf of Jersey with the Kenyan government.
‘Jersey has a maturing political relationship with the government of Kenya, as well as long-standing commercial ties,’ he said. ‘This visit seeks to progress the political, commercial and judicial co-operation objectives that have developed between Jersey and Kenya. It combines a range of commercial, governmental and strategic policy objectives – reflecting the depth and breadth of the relationship established between Jersey and
Kenya.’
Senator Gorst also made reference to Jersey’s provision of ‘high-level advice on Rwanda’s strategy for developing an international finance centre’, which is something that former Assistant Chief Minister Philip Ozouf has also recently spoken about.
Mr Ozouf, who signed the Island’s memorandum of understanding with Rwanda when he was a government minister in 2016, has been in the country this month in a non-governmental capacity and spoke to the JEP about his visit.
‘I am the interlocutor between Jersey and the Rwandan government,’ he said. ‘I am trying to help them [the Rwandan government] put some real substance to their aspirations to become a business- and professional-services centre of the future.’
