TURKEY is targeting to grow the volume of bilateral trade with Kenya to a worth of $500 million within the next three years, an official at the Turkish embassy in Nairobi has said.

While introducing a business delegation of officials from the Turkish electronics sector, Koray Demircan, the commercial counsellor at the embassy said the country is looking to import more from Kenya other than the usual leather, tomato seeds and tea products. In turn he said, Kenya could benefit from quality fertilizer, wheat flour and construction material from Turkey.

Trade between the two countries stood at a worth of $214 million by end 2011. "The growth of Kenya's economy is creating demand for electronic products and will create a good market for these goods which we have mostly been exporting to Europe," said Demircan. The volume of trade has however been biased in favour of Turkey but Demarcan said plans are underway to send a delegation of Kenyan businessmen to Turkey for networking and market sensitization so that they can identify the product needs of that country.