NAIROBI – President William Ruto on Monday night departs for Japan for a three-day visit where he will sign MoUs covering defence cooperation, PPPs on road construction, and the KEMRI Laboratory Expansion Project.
Through a statement on Monday, State House Spokesman Hussein Mohamed said the reciprocal visit following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit in May 2023, will focus on economic cooperation in health, ICT, infrastructure, energy and financial services.
“President Ruto and Prime Minister Kishida will also address multilateral issues of mutual interest, including the reform of the United Nations Security Council and climate change,” Hussein said.
Ruto will also meet the Japan-Africa Parliamentary Association to advocate Japanese investments in Kenya, address a Kenya-Japan business forum, meet leaders of Japanese companies and hold talks with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
According to the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs, the visit will strengthen the bilateral relations between Kenya and Japan built over the past 60 years.
“Kenya is the leading recipient of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) in sub-Saharan Africa. This support, made up of technical assistance, grant aid and concessional loans, has benefitted priority areas of bilateral cooperation including economic infrastructure, agriculture, health, education and environment,” OPCS office said in a statement on Sunday.
It added that Japanese Foreign Direct Investment and trade have made a significant contribution to Kenya’s growth and prosperity.
“Japan is also a key partner in Africa’s development through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD)—a high level open forum that brings together African leaders, development partners and other stakeholders to find solutions to Africa’s development”.
