MH to Nairobi!?

[KK Lee 5]

Malaysia, Kenya Agree To Establish Air Links

 

From S. Retna

 

NAIROBI (KENYA), April 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Kenya have agreed in principle to create direct air linkages between their capital cities Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Wednesday.

 

The prime minister said the agreement was reached during a meeting between him and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Wednesday morning.

 

"If we are to boost trade and ties between the two countries, it was agreed that we would need to have direct air linkages. I spoke to the president about it and he agreed.

 

"And now we are leaving it to the respective airlines to work out some mechanism to make this a reality," he told a news conference after the Malaysia-Kenya Business Forum luncheon here.

 

Abdullah is on a two-day official visit to Kenya, which began yesterday. It is part of his whirlwind eight-day tour of three African nations, namely Sudan, Kenya and Namibia.

 

Elaborating, Abdullah said he would inform Malaysia Airlines of the government's proposal and then "we would let the companies talk".

 

It is likely that Kenya Airways, which now flies to Bangkok, would be involved in the negotiations.

 

"This is something we require if we want more contacts among the people and for business and joint-ventures between the two countries to flourish.

 

"Moreover, we want more Kenyan students to come to Malaysia to further their studies. This (direct air links) would make it easier for us to attract these potential students," he said.

 

Currently, there are about 600 Kenyans pursuing their studies at various public and private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.

 

Abdullah also announced the setting up of a Malaysia-Kenya Joint Commission which would meet at least once a year.

 

He said the commission would be tasked to implement and oversee matters that had been agreed upon by the two nations and help sort out problems that would crop up from time to time.

 

"These can be issues pertaining to business set-ups to immigration matters. We have also agreed that our High Commissions be used by the joint commission to settle matters instead of waiting for the annual joint commission meeting," he said.

 

On another matter, Abdullah said Malaysia would find a way to make it easier for Kenyans to obtain student visas.

 

"The authorities in Kenya are concerned about the various checks and the time taken for these students to get a Malaysian visa," Abdullah added.

 

Earlier, he attended a bilateral meeting between the Malaysian and Kenyan delegations and witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding, namely on Scientific and Technological Cooperation and Planning and Implementation of Road Projects.

 

He will also attend a high tea with members of the Malaysian community in Kenya before attending a state banquet tonight.

 

Thursday morning, Abdullah will leave for the famous Maasai Mara game reserve in the Serengeti plains before leaving for Namibia in the afternoon.

 

-- BERNAMA

 

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=257558

 

Old wine in new bottle, more government interfering.

 

Let’s see how much can MH resist this ‘request’.

 

 

 

[Seth K 3]

Dun worry, it just politicians word, just to please each other during visit.................happens all time

If they are actually being ridiculously serious, I dun think it's MH that will fly there, Kenyan airways will............they can have onward journey to KUL from BKK with their 777!

Edited April 18, 2007 by Seth K

[Keno Omar 0]

Governments can only pave the way to open up air market agreements, the rest is up to airline companies to decide if such a venture actually makes sense. Mind you Brunei has an open sky agreement with USA for years and frankly there doesn't seem to be much need for BI to launch their own service to the State anytime soon, if ever!

[Pieter C. 5]

I dun think it's MH that will fly there, Kenyan airways will............they can have onward journey to KUL from BKK with their 777!

 

KQ is part of ST, like so many code-share partners of MH; do I've to say more ?

 

[BC Tam 2]

Governments can only pave the way to open up air market agreements, the rest is up to airline companies to decide if such a venture actually makes sense .....

This is Kerajaan Malaysia and MAS we're discussing here, which should give some indication that rationality of thoughts will be hard to come by ................

Edited April 18, 2007 by BC Tam

[H Azmal 0]

Remember the time when MAS used to fly to Tarabulus?

[kandiah k 0]

Tarabulus ???

[H Azmal 0]

Tripoli - Tarabulus is the Arabic name for Tripoli. I prefer calling places by their local name e.g. Aljaza'ir instead of Algiers, Maghreb instead of Morocco.

Edited April 19, 2007 by H Azmal

[Yusoff 1]

Tarabulus - sounds like 'tarak bulu' (hairless) to me ...

 

sorry off topic...

[Nuriman Ahmad 2]

Tarabulus? Zaman bila?

[H Azmal 0]

Sometime in the 90s. I remember it was on a biz mag, criticising the decision saying it would please the policy makers but not the accountants. It lasted not even a year if I recall.

[Keno Omar 0]

Back in the 90s when Dr M visited Republic of Macedonia, I recall reading a newspaper report about MAS looking into flying to Macedonia to "strengthens" bilateral ties (hmm I never knew there was ANY tie to begin with). Some geography lessons: the country is located between Kosovo & Greece and their capital is Skopje.

 

If that were to materialize, it would definitely rank very high on MAS "exotic destination" list.

[Sandeep G 1]

Au contraire,

 

Zagreb was an immensely popular service with eastern europeans travelling via KUL to/fro Australia! I think with proper management, this kind of route would be reasonably profitable for the carrier. That part of the world is quite interesting by way of tourism!!

 

Nairobi??? hmmmm I dunno... But would be nice to see Kenyan here at KUL rather than MH there at Nairobi.

[Imran K. 0]

Tarabulus... LOL...

 

Taraples (Ta-Ra-Place) is how its pronounced in Arabic.