By Daniel Ooko NAIROBI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan has extended a soft loan of 375 million U.S. dollars to Kenya for geothermal power generation, drought responses and re- forestation. Of the amount, 320 million dollars will be channeled to geothermal power generation while 55 million dollars will service drought responses and re- forestation in the country. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also offered Japan's assistance for Kenya to develop a nuclear power plant, noting that Japan has the most advanced technology in nuclear power production. He said Kenya can expect additional assistance in other areas of climate change measures. Hatayama made the announcement at a meeting with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday who wound up his one week visit to the country. Odinga arrived in Japan last Monday evening for meetings with business and political leaders aimed at attracting Japanese aid and investments to Kenya. Speaking in Nairobi on Sunday, Odinga who concluded a week-long tour of Japan and Thailand told journalists in Nairobi that he wooed investors in the two countries to invest in Kenya. The PM said his extensive consultations with government officials and the business community from the two Asian countries were fruitful. 'We went to seek trade and investment opportunities as opposed to the old habit of begging for Aid. But to cope with the impact of global warming, we encourage promotion of green energy and reforestation projects,' he said. The PM told journalists on arrival in Nairobi that the two countries had pledged to support government efforts in mitigating the effects of climate change. During his meetings in Japan, Hatoyama said Tokyo will support Kenya's desire for expanded trade and investment. He pledged to push for increased exports of Kenyan products to Japan, a larger number of Japanese tourists to Kenya, and greater investment of Japanese private companies in Kenya. The aid deal came after a series of meetings earlier in the day and throughout the week in which Odinga and his delegation put a strong case for increased Japanese assistance to Kenya through soft loans and direct investment. Speaking on Kenya's bid to increase its forest cover, Hatoyama said he appreciated the burden of climate change that Kenya is bearing. He said through a new initiative he launched last year, Japan will strongly support Kenya's efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The Hatoyama Initiative aims to help developing nations achieve their emissions reduction targets while also cutting his own country's emissions. Odinga and Hatoyama agreed to work together to bring about a successful conclusion of climate change negotiations in Mexico later this year. Hatoyama expressed strong support for Kenya's intention to be the 'voice of conscience' to encourage all parties to work together to this goal. He expressed his support for a Climate Change Vulnerable Countries Summit which Kenya plans to host later this year. During the meeting, the two leaders pledged to substantially strengthen the cooperation between Japan and Kenya. Odinga said his visit to Japan and the visit of Crown Prince of Japan to Kenya next month symbolizes a turn for the better in the relations between the two countries. Hatayama said Japan is keen to help Kenya achieve its objective of moving away from dependency on aid. In Nairobi, Odinga unveiled some projects the foreign companies planned to undertake and encouraged investors to fully exploit opportunities in green energy production towards reduction of carbon emission, largely blamed for the global phenomena. The PM said the Japanese people wanted to assist the country develop a nuclear energy reactor to bridge the power deficit the country experienced in bid to reduce carbon emission from other sources of energy. He said the Toyota Company expressed interest to invest in the geothermal and solar energy production. Odinga said top executives of the multinational company sanctioned plans for construction of an oil pipeline and export terminal from the Proposed Lamu Port to Juba town in Southern Sudan. 'The company has confirmed plans to make Kenya a logistic hub by September this year and also put up 30 megawatt solar energy generation plant in Garissa town,' he said. He said the Thai government pledged to promote bilateral ties with Kenya through investment in the energy, Agro and Fruit processing industries for the mutual benefit of both countries. 'I am now optimistic that Kenya is likely to make major strides in mitigating the effects of climate change now that main players like Japan have made efforts to bail out vulnerable countries,' Odinga said. 