What's new

Kenya welcomes Chinese investment in culture and education as a means of tackling terrorism

艹艹艹

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
5,149
Reaction score
0
Country
China
Location
China
(People's Daily Online) 16:15, July 27, 2016

FOREIGN201607271616000343432066012.jpg

(Tom Mshindi, editor-in-chief of the Nation Media Group, addresses a sub forum of the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road. Photo/people.cn)
According to a senior media executive from Kenya, the country is enthusiastic about moreChinese investment in culture and education, which, alongside investment ininfrastructure, can help tackle the problem of terrorism in the region.

“The key thing for China to do is invest more in the education and culture of Kenya sincemuch of the current investment is in infrastructure and energy. By investing in the cultureI mean helping people to live, and also understanding other cultures so that we don’t seeother tribes as enemies,” said Tom Mshindi, editor-in-chief of the Nation Media Group inKenya.

Mshindi spoke with People’s Daily Online in an exclusive interview on the sideline of the2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road, which opened on July 26 in Beijing.

The problem, according to Mshindi, is that terrorism usually comes out of poverty. Henoted that countries must work to guarantee public access to national resources includingeducation.

“China can come in with resources to help with educational programs, cultural programs,particularly in the areas of creativity, art and dramatization,” he added.

It is already widely recognized in Kenya that China plays a big role in many people’s dailylives, Mshindi said, referring to the $365-billion Mombasa-Nairobi Standard GaugeRailway project as an example.

“It is seen as the biggest program that has been done in that country for the last 50 years.And we expect to see a lot of development...once you open up the country that way,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, despite being one of the trading hub on the Belt and Road Initiative, whichMshindi called “one of the world’s most ambitious projects,” most people in Kenya areunfamiliar with the initiative.

“From the media perspective, I think both the Chinese and [Kenyans] have failed becauseneither of us discussed this topic on our platforms, such as newspapers, televisions andbroadcasts. So I think media should play a bigger role...because media is the connectingthread, the one that bridges between cultures and people, and it’s able to tell the story.Media is to explain to the world what the initiative is, what it means, what is in thisinitiative and ways [that it will function],” he noted
 

Back
Top Bottom