NAIROBI, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- A reception marking the upcoming Chinese New Year and the close of the 2025 China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season was held Tuesday in Nairobi, bringing together officials, lawmakers, diplomats and scholars.
Hanna Wendot Cheptumo, cabinet secretary for Kenya's Ministry of Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage, said in a speech delivered by Ummi Bashir, principal secretary in the State Department for Culture, the Arts and Heritage, that Kenya and China have nurtured a vibrant cultural partnership across media, education, arts and heritage, generating mutual benefits.
"This collaboration has deepened mutual understanding and fostered people-to-people connections," Bashir said, noting that since the launch of the China-Kenya Culture and Tourism Season in June 2025, over 100 local officials and industry professionals in the fields of culture, heritage, tourism and the creative economy have received training in China.
Bashir said that Sino-Kenyan cultural ties also extend to archaeology, content sharing, tea diplomacy and museology.
Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Guo Haiyan said that with the advance of globalization, the Spring Festival has increasingly become a worldwide cultural carnival.
She noted that the newly concluded 2025 is of pivotal significance in the China-Kenya relations. Over the past six months, a wide range of dynamic activities have been held, which have vigorously advanced the people-to-people and cultural exchanges, further strengthened friendship between the two peoples, and made positive contributions to the building of a China-Kenya community with a shared future in the new era.
She added that in the year ahead, China stands ready to work with African countries, including Kenya, to seize the opportunities of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Africa and the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges to carry forward the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, advance together toward a community with a shared future for humanity, and jointly charter a new chapter of cooperation. ■