Kenya’s President to visit Barbados

Just days after playing host to the President of the Africa Export-Import Bank, Barbados will be receiving a visit from another high-level African official as Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected on-island on Monday.

With President Kenyatta heading a business delegation seeking to solidify and sign off on a joint commission for cooperation, he has a number of officers on the ground already. During a media briefing hosted yesterday at the Barbados Hilton, High Commissioner of Kenya to Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana, Ambassador Anthony Muchiri and Kenya’s Minister of Defence Ambassador Dr. Monica Juma highlighted some of the plans for the upcoming visit.

Noting that diplomatic engagements between the African continent and countries in the Caribbean dated back to the 60s, Ambassador Muchiri stated that there was something of a fall-off after the independence movement in the region. Admitting that there was a perception that relations had gone dormant for a while, he said that there was a thinking among African nations, especially in Kenya under President Kenyatta that talks needed to be refreshed and renewed.

With Kenya expanding its global diplomatic footprint and establishing an Embassy for the region in Cuba, Muchiri listed the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Summit held in 2019 and the first ever Africa-CARCINOMA Summit, which was held only weeks ago as some of the strides being made. Revealing that the President’s visit would see officials from top companies in the services sector, the FinTech sector, oil and gas, banking, transport and maritime, agriculture and the environment all in tow, he added that there would be a natural progression of the relationship with our region as travel and trade go hand-in-hand.

“Transport is critical because of connectivity. We always wanted to have a direct connection to the Caribbean. To go to Africa, you have to go through Europe or the US. We are trying as much as possible to ensure that our premier airline, Kenya Airways sees that a commercial flight is viable to the Caribbean region. Trade follows people. Once people start coming to the Caribbean, they will start trading with each other,” he said before going on to say that there would also be a signing of a memorandum of understanding between the African Union and CARICOM to set out the legal framework and structure of the accord between the two.

Ambassador Juma, who is campaigning to become the seventh Secretary General of Commonwealth, noted that the partnership and her election would both prove crucial to the development of all countries under the Commonwealth.

“Part of this is really seen as Kenya’s readiness to take up its position in offering competencies and skills that take the Commonwealth to the next level at a time when we believe we are at a historical crossroads. Given the geostrategic dynamics, given the risks and threats that are upon us, we believe that we need in the Secretariat, a basis for evolving stronger commitment from every member state, a basis for stronger consensus as part of the Commonwealth values, and a basis for more innovative connections. Connections that will enable us to deal with today’s and tomorrow’s challenges,” she said.

Placing emphasis on the world’s vulnerable nations’ ability to build back better from the global pandemic, she called for a consensus on issues such as ensuring vaccine equity and the economic health of developing countries. “And so the big question is, how do we grow the fiscal space, how do we create innovative partnerships that provide for resources to deal with challenges such as debt pressure? All analysis we have seen is indicative that if this trend continues, we are going to fall far short of the sustainable development goals. Worse yet, any progress we have made is likely to be rolled back. And so I think there are big issues around what are the types of partnerships and connections we need to develop in order that we can reduce the pressure that is upon the nations and communities,” she said. (MP)