Workers go about their work on an assembly line at Twyford Ceramics, a Chinese tiles manufacturing company, in Kajiado County of Kenya, May 12, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

Kenya on Tuesday called on Chinese firms to invest in the country to help Kenya achieve its ambitious manufacturing targets.

Peter Munya, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperation told journalists that Kenya wants to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the GDP from the current less than 8 percent to 15 percent by the end of 2022.

"We welcome Chinese firms to increase their investments in Kenya so that they help us accelerate our industrialization agenda," Munya said during a tour of KEDA Ceramics in Kajiado County, about 60 km south of capital city, Nairobi.

Munya said that Chinese factories based in Kenya are producing goods in a number of sectors ranging from ceramics, construction, housing as well as fast moving consumer goods sectors.

"They are helping to support the country's agenda of job creation and wealth generation," he said.

Munya urged the Chinese to set up manufacturing plants so that they produce goods that are currently imported as a way to save foreign exchange as well as create jobs locally.

"Kenya is ready to support foreign investors by a providing a predictable and conducive environment that will enable local production to be globally competitive," he added.

The government official added that China has made tremendous economic progress in the past 40 years since it began its reforms.

Munya noted that through the Sino-Kenya friendship, Kenya will benefit from the advanced Chinese technological knowhow as well as the huge market for Kenyan goods.