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Kenya’s President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 20th May ahead of a state visit to Washington. The visit to Atlanta is the first segment of Kenya’s diplomatic engagement with the United States
Kenya’s President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 20th May ahead of a state visit to Washington. The visit to Atlanta is the first segment of Kenya’s diplomatic engagement with the United States.
President Ruto delivered a speech on governance and democratic values at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta. Welcoming President Ruto, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Atlanta the visit would promote people-to-people ties, public health partnerships, educational exchanges, investments between the two countries. Ruto will engage with Atlanta’s African Diaspora.
Ruto will be hosted by US president Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. on May 23. Ruto and Biden are set to “discuss ways to bolster cooperation in areas including people-to-people ties, trade and investment, technological innovation, climate and clean energy, health, and security.
Kenya was among the top 10 countries of origin for Black immigrants to the US according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the 2019 American Community Survey (IPUMS). Kenya is a key US ally in eastern Africa. The two nations have relatively strong military cooperation. It is relevant to recall that last year Kenya’s Defense Minister Aden Duale and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed an agreement that guides the countries’ defense relations for the next five years as the war in East Africa against the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab extremist group intensifies.
William Ruto will be the first African leader to be hosted during a state visit since US President Joe Biden was elected in 2020. Biden said in December 2022 that he would visit sub-Saharan Africa the following year, which would have made him the first U.S. president to travel there in a decade. The president pledged at the end of a U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington with 49 leaders, in which he suggested the continent would be a strategic focus as the U.S. made political and financial commitments.
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But Biden has yet to set foot on the continent. High-ranking US officials have been to different African countries since Biden was elected. Those include Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, US State Department Secretary, and vice-president Kamala Harris. The visit by William Ruto marks the 60th anniversary of U.S.-Kenya diplomatic relations.
