Nairobi, Kenya — Kenya and France have finalized an agreement to facilitate funding for the upgrading of the Nairobi Commuter Railway, a rail network serving Nairobi and its suburbs, officials said on Saturday.

Musalia Mudavadi, prime cabinet secretary who is also the cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs, told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the east African nation will receive a 138.7-million-U.S. dollar loan to modernize its metropolitan railway line.

"This project aligns with Kenya's sustainable urban development initiatives, aiming to enhance transport services and mobility in the Nairobi metropolitan area," Mudavadi said during a joint press conference with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne.

He added that the two countries have also agreed to expedite the implementation of a key project to create eight socio-sports and cultural complexes throughout the country that will be co-financed by the two countries to the tune of 76. 8 million dollars.

On his part, Sejourne said that the two countries also agreed to strengthen their bilateral cooperation on climate action as well as step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity by prioritizing green growth.

The two ministers called for the need to strengthen access to sustainable energy and welcomed Africa's green industrialization initiative and transition launched by Kenya.

They committed to addressing the full lifecycle of plastics and plastic pollution in all its dimensions, including primary plastic polymers and associated chemicals.

The ministers also emphasized the need to further preserve, protect and restore critical ecosystems, including forests and other wooded land, wetlands such as peatlands and mangroves and ocean that are the main natural carbon sinks and biodiversity reservoirs.