State visit · 24 November 2025
Your Excellency Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and his distinguished Malaysian delegation, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Kenya is honoured to host you, Your Excellency, on this historic State Visit, the first by a Malaysian Prime Minister in nearly two decades, and one that coincides with our celebration of 60 years of Kenya-Malaysia diplomatic relations.
Our discussions today reinforced our longstanding friendship while charting an ambitious future together. We agreed to elevate our bilateral architecture by upgrading to a strategic bilateral partnership, ensuring that our cooperation advances with purpose and structure.
We reaffirmed our commitment to removing tariff and non-tariff barriers, expanding Kenyan exports to Malaysia, and deepening cooperation in digital technology and high-tech manufacturing. In this regard, we welcome Your Excellency’s agreement to the elimination of tariffs on agricultural produce and beef, a significant step that will open new market opportunities for Kenyan farmers and strengthen the commercial foundation of our partnership.
The removal of these tariffs is especially significant given the structure of our current trade, where Kenya’s main exports to Malaysia include tea, coffee, flowers, avocados, and titanium ores, while imports from Malaysia consist primarily of edible oils and fats, chemical products, electronics, agricultural chemicals, and rubber. This profile underscores the importance and the potential of broadening our commercial ties.
Our engagements culminated in the signing of key cooperation instruments: i.
A Bilateral Air Services Agreement to expand connectivity, ease travel, and boost trade and tourism. ii.
An MoU on Tourism Cooperation to strengthen two-way tourism, investment, and joint destination marketing. iii.
A Letter of Intent on the twinning of Nairobi and Kuala Lumpur to enhance city-level cooperation in urban planning, technology, and service delivery. iv.
An MoU between the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the National Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Malaysia to deepen private-sector partnerships and unlock new business opportunities.
Together, these instruments mark the beginning of a broader and deeper strategic partnership for mutual benefit.
This visit comes at a defining moment for Kenya, as we advance a new national roadmap inspired by the experience of Malaysia and other Asian Tigers, nations that rose through discipline, strategy, and a commitment to excellence.
In our discussions, we agreed that Malaysia will explore partnerships and investments across our priority areas, including collaboration in STEM and in research and development. The Prime Minister will engage with key education stakeholders as part of this effort.
We also agreed to strengthen the semiconductor bilateral relationship as part of Kenya’s human capital development and industrialisation agenda. Through a strategic partnership, Malaysia will support Kenya to grow and expand its semiconductor technology and manufacturing capabilities, including with Kimathi University, already a leader in this field.
As part of our broader transformation agenda, we invited Malaysian private-sector actors to participate in public–private partnerships, including investments in road network expansion through tolling, power generation and expansion under PPP arrangements, and dam construction. We encouraged Malaysian companies to take advantage of Kenya as a manufacturing hub for the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Additionally, we exchanged views on regional peace, security, and multilateral cooperation. We acknowledged Malaysia’s efforts in the East Asian region and Kenya’s peace efforts in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. We also expressed support for President Trump’s intervention in the Sudan crisis, which has now escalated into a humanitarian catastrophe.
We also reaffirmed our shared commitment to the reform of the global financial architecture and the reform of the United Nations. Africa demands two permanent seats on the UN Security Council with full rights, including the power of veto, as well as two additional non-permanent seats. With 54 countries and a population of 1.4 billion people, it is both unfair and undemocratic for the continent to remain excluded from the world’s top decision-making body. I conveyed our appreciation to Malaysia for supporting the upgrade and expansion of the UN Office in Nairobi, the only such UN headquarters presence in the Global South.
Likewise, the international financial architecture must be reformed and democratised to ensure that Africa, and the wider Global South, are treated equitably so that they can access concessional financing at scale, just as members of the Global North do.
Your Excellency, your presence in Nairobi is a powerful affirmation that Kenya’s ambition meets Malaysia’s experience at exactly the right moment. As we rise, we draw inspiration from nations like yours that embraced bold ambition over limitation and chose excellence. Kenya now stands ready to take its place among them.
I express my deepest appreciation to His Majesty King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar; to Your Excellency, your Government, and the people of Malaysia for this important visit. I thank you.