NAIROBI, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- In the expansive packhouse of Vertical Agro Group, on the outskirts of Kenya's resort town of Naivasha, dozens of workers in protective gear on Thursday meticulously sorted a variety of fresh vegetables for brief storage in cold rooms and later onward shipment to overseas markets.

　　The packhouse is domiciled within an export processing zone directly linked to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (ICD), a Chinese-built dry port for handling bulk cargo that is part of the logistical artery for the Mombasa-Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

　　Amid a beehive of activity at the packhouse, Hasit Shah, chief executive officer of Vertical Agro Group, led a group of senior government officials, foreign diplomats, industry executives and scholars, who were on a mission to learn how China's zero-tariff policy and infrastructure modernization have unlocked new markets for fresh produce companies in Kenya.

　　In August 2022, following the phytosanitary protocol agreed between Kenya and China, Sunripe, which is part of Vertical Agro Group, became one of the first Kenyan companies to ship fresh avocados to the Chinese market, Shah told guests.

　　"China is the newest and the fastest-growing of the five overseas markets, namely the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States," he said.

　　For six decades, Vertical Agro Group has operated two packhouses in Naivasha, sourcing fresh produce such as avocados, broccoli, French beans and spinach from nearby contracted farmers, Shah said.

　　The produce is picked, sorted, stored in cold rooms, packed to clients' specifications and transported to the dry port, where SGR wagons cover nearly 600 kilometers to deliver it to the port of Mombasa for onward shipment abroad, he noted.