Top United States and Kenya government officials are scheduled to hold the inaugural Bilateral Strategic Dialogue(BSD) two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. beginning Tuesday.
The BSD was established during the meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Donald Trump held in Washington last August which elevated Kenya-US relations to a Strategic Partnership.
Kenya’s delegation is being led by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Monicah Juma and other senior government officials.
The BSD will be premised on economic prosperity, trade and investment, defence cooperation, democracy and governance and multilateral and regional issues.
Further, Kenya and the United States will seek to deepen economic ties through maximizing Kenya’s trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and explore trade and investment opportunities post AGOA in 2025.
On Defence Cooperation, Kenya will seek to enhance cooperation in strengthening military and strategic responses to domestic and regional security challenges.
“The two countries are expected to sign the agreement to guide the Strategic Dialogue and the Security Governance Initiative (SGI) Joint Country Action Plan to enhance civilian security and governance cooperation. A Joint Communique will be issued at the end of the meeting,” said a statement from the foreign affairs ministry.
On democracy, governance and civilian security, Kenya and United States will deliberate on issues of common interests including shared democratic values, anti-corruption efforts and increased civilian security cooperation.
On multilateral and regional issues, Kenya and United States will pursue stronger diplomatic partnership which provides a platform to discuss cooperation and coordination required to uphold a rules based global order.
This includes collaboration in multilateral fora such as the United Nations as partnerships that contribute to a free and open world.
JK/abj/APA