President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday held talks with Vice President Epsy Campbell Barr of Costa Rica and Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda which focused on rejuvenating bilateral relations and deepening cooperation between Kenya and the Caribbean countries in several areas of mutual interest.
At the meeting with Vice President Campbell Barr, the two leaders agreed on the need for Kenya and Costa Rica to partner and work together in improving the lives of the citizens of the two countries.
Kenyatta and Vice President Campbell Barr identified trade, healthcare, energy, housing, tourism, education and environmental conservation as areas that should be given attention as the two countries move to strengthen their bilateral ties.
Vice President Campbell Barr said Costa Rica and Kenya need to encourage people-to-people interactions so as to unlock the huge trade potential that exists between the two countries.
“We need to revive the relations that existed between our forefathers to transform the lives of our people both socially and economically,” Vice President Campbell said.
Kenyatta welcomed initiatives to build bilateral ties with the Caribbean country and cited Kenyan coffee as one of the crops that the country could export to Costa Rica to boost trade ties between the two countries.
“I am a big believer in creating and cementing relations with the Caribbean Community,” President Kenyatta said adding that Kenya is an emerging leader in the generation of renewable energy, an area the country is willing to share its expertise with the Caribbean nation.
At the meeting with Prime Minister Browne, the leaders resolved to upscale bilateral relations between Kenya and Antigua and Barbuda by establishing diplomatic missions in their respective countries.
The Prime Minister assured President Kenyatta that his country supports Kenya’s candidature for the non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2021 to 2022 term.
President Kenyatta also met President Danny Faure of Seychelles at State House, Nairobi, and discussed a wide range of areas of cooperation between the two countries.
The visiting leaders are in Kenya to attend the ongoing International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) which President Kenyatta opened on Tuesday.
JK/as/APA