OREANDA-NEWS. August 22, 2012. Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Toyota Tsusho; headquarters: Nagoya City; President: Jun Karube) and the Republic of Kenya’s Vision 2030 Delivery Board (VDB; Director General: Mugo Kibati) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding comprehensive collaborations by both parties in the automobile, power and energy, petroleum and mineral resource, environmental infrastructure, and agricultural industrialization fields, in order to achieve Kenya‘s national vision.

VDB is the executive committee for the “Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030,”1 which manages Kenya’s national vision. Toyota Tsusho and VDB will form project teams within each business field to advance the respective business sector.

Kenya has garnered attention in recent years as a core country in East Africa, as the nation has grown rapidly along with the economic development of the East African Community.

Toyota Tsusho opened its first overseas office in Kenya in September, 1962. Kenya has been positioned as a “priority country” in the company’s GLOBAL 2020 VISION. In the automotive field, Toyota Tsusho has engaged in initiatives supporting the economic independence of the country, such as its business investments closely tied to the community, activities aimed at increasing automobile ownership, and local hiring and human resource development. Toyota Tsusho is moving forward in a wide range of businesses in Kenya, receiving orders in recent years for geothermal power generation projects.

By signing this MOU, Toyota Tsusho will secure its foundation as Africa’s number one trading company, and contribute to Kenya’s economic development by—in addition to continuing its existing automobile business—actively supporting the Kenyan government’s vision 2030,2 while accelerating projects in diverse business fields in Kenya and the East Africa region.