State visit · 14 November 2023
Your Excellency, Klaus Werner Iohannis, Your Excellency, Carmen Iohannis, First Lady of Romania, Honorable Ministers, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Distinguished Guests, Members of the Press, Good afternoon,
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen of the Press to State House, Nairobi.
On behalf of the people and government of Kenya, I am delighted to welcome H.E. Klaus Werner Iohannis, President of Romania, H.E. Carmen Iohannis, First Lady of Romania and the entire delegation on their maiden visit to the Republic of Kenya.
President Iohannis and I have just concluded very fruitful discussions where we have exchanged views on the current state of our relations, and our path to the future, in the light of challenges and tremendous opportunities that stand before us.
We have taken note of the warm and cordial relations that exist between Kenya and Romania, whose inception in 1968 saw initiation of collaboration in diverse fields. We have, in this regard, reiterated the imperative to escalate our cooperation across all spheres of mutual interest, including; political, socioeconomic, cultural and diplomatic domains.
During our discussions we deliberated on a wide array of subjects across various areas of common interest: Trade and investment, environmental conservation and climate action, political and diplomatic dialogue, cooperation in ICT, agriculture, people-to-people engagement, peace and security, disaster risk management and international humanitarian support, regional and multilateral cooperation.
Accordingly, our discussions focused on the strategies and interventions by which we can enhance trade and investment between our countries. We have shared ideas on new opportunities to improve the balance of trade and enhance investments.
To set off the process of actualizing our common agenda in these areas, we also witnessed the signing of four (4) Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) as follows: a) Environmental Protection and Climate Change b) Cooperation on Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety c) Agricultural Research and Cooperation d) Diplomatic Institute and the Foreign Service Academy of Kenya.
I am confident that the implementation of these MoUs will escalate our relations into an effective partnership in the areas of focus and create conditions for Kenya and Romania to expand the scope of collaboration to cover even more sectors in the near future.
9 During our discussions, I requested H.E. Iohannis to join me in advocating for climate action and calling upon developed nations to honour climate financing commitments made during previous COPs. We also agreed to work together with other countries to seek for innovative ways for climate financing as well as on carbon markets.
We also had an opportunity to discuss global peace and security and shared concerns on the continued conflicts and instability in our regions and other parts of the world. Consequently, we agreed to play our rightful roles within the existing instruments in the Community of Nations to contribute to a more peaceful and secure world.
President Iohannis and I also resolved to continuously work together, both at the bilateral as well as multilateral spheres to promote and support the achievement of the global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It is my pleasure to once again thank H.E. President Iohannis and his delegation, for their visit to Kenya and appreciate the constructive dialogue that we have had today. The visit signifies the shared commitment to enhance our bilateral relations for the benefit of our two countries.
We look forward to further engagement and more opportunities to drive our cooperation into the next level. Thank you. God bless you.