President Ruto on Tuesday, January 24th met his counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace in the French capital, during his official visit to France. The two held bi-lateral talks on the status of key development projects agreed upon by the two countries including regional peace and security.
Taking to social media, President Ruto revealed that they have agreed to collaborate with the French leader to enhance existing business opportunities, as well as create new opportunities for both Kenyans and for the French people.
“Kenya and France relations are anchored on mutually beneficial cooperation on trade, energy, health and infrastructure among others. We have agreed to diversify, harness and enhance existing business opportunities,” Ruto said.
The president also took time to meet with representatives of the Kenyan diaspora where organizations such as the Kenya France Business Club led by its Vice President, Mr. Enock Maiyo, were present to discuss different ways to bolster Kenya’s position in international trade.
He spoke about what his government is doing to improve service delivery, emphasizing on digitizing all government services, and on diaspora voting being held digitally in future.
In addition, he mentioned that under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kenyan government has established a diaspora desk, mandated to deal purely with diaspora matters going forward. Embassy roles will be expanded to handle business affairs in the respective countries, with a new fully fledged department being established.
Ultimately, the President stressed that we are the best ambassadors of our country in our respective walks of life, and that he is counting on us to lift our country to higher regard.
The head of state then flew to Senegal where he joined more than 20 leaders from across the continent at the Dakar II Feed Africa summit themed ‘Food, Sovereignty and Resilience’.