NAIROBI, July 27 -- Chinese vehicle firm Chery on Saturday signed a partnership deal with Kenyan firm Afrigreen Automobile to build an assembly plant to produce electric vehicles (EVs) in the East African country.

The event attracted a high-level delegation from east China's Anhui Province as well as senior Kenyan government officials.

Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, principal secretary in the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, said the cooperation is expected to boost the uptake of EVs in the country by making them more affordable and accessible.

"The assembly plant will help the transport sector to become greener as we currently have about 4,000 e-vehicles against a population of about 1.7 million cars on the roads," Hassan said.

He added that a 20-million-U.S.-dollar investment is expected to create about 3,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.

Hai Wei, director of Chery International Central Africa Region, said Kenya was selected for the establishment of the assembly plant because of its skilled workforce and position as an economic hub in Africa.

Hai added that Chery has 26 years of innovative research that can help produce cars suited for the local market.

Shan Xiangqian, vice-governor of Anhui Province, said the cooperation between the two firms will help enhance Kenya's image as a center for e-mobility.

Shan revealed that Chery's entry into the Kenyan market is a result of the cordial and long-standing relations between the two countries.

Nishant Mishra, global head of Future Mobility of Afrigreen Automobile, said the assembly plant should be operational in the next one month with a capacity to produce between 5000 and 6000 EVs annually.

Mishra added that they will begin production of the Omoda sport utility model because it is suited for both urban and rural terrain and branch out to pickups next year.

  - Xinhua