21/07/2015
STATEMENT BY H.E. PRESIDENT UHURU
KENYATTA DURING A NEWS CONFERENCE AT
STATE HOUSE, NAIROBI, 21st JULY 2015
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Africa's riches are old and new. The resilience
and diligence of our people are ancient, yet we
remain full of the energy, ambition and
invention of youth.
In recent times, as we liberated ourselves and
came to more equal relations with the rest of
the world, our diligence earned greater respect
and reward: some of the fastest-growing
economies in the world are now to be found
on the continent, as are some of the most
innovative and enterprising firms, whose
origins span the globe.
They come to us because they see the
continent's potential yet to be fully tapped.
New partners join old friends in this turn to
Africa.
This development should be welcomed. None
of us can escape the interdependent world in
which we now live. None of us should want to.
In the commerce and interaction of diverse
peoples are born that the ideas and practices
that will change the world.
That is why it is my pleasure to co-host, with
President Obama of the United
States of America, the Global Entrepreneurship
Summit (GES) in Nairobi this weekend. Since
its inauguration in the USA five years ago, it
has grown into a truly global gathering of
entrepreneurs, innovators, Government leaders
and youth.
It connects men and women of imagination
and enterprise to their peers around the world.
It exposes us all to new opportunities, while
teaching us new answers to problems of wide
concern.
In its respect for diversity, entrepreneurship,
and inclusion, it is a model for richer
relationships between and within nations.
This is the first time the Summit has come to
sub-Saharan Africa. In its choice of Kenya, the
GES acknowledges the progress and potential
of our nation, and its leadership on the
continent. It also acknowledges our
entrepreneurial spirit, our robust small and
medium enterprises, and our entrepreneur
class which now counts many of our young
people, and previously marginalised groups,
among its members.
Kenya’s reputation for innovation and
enterprise is fully deserved. It is our habit to
take risks in the hope of bettering ourselves,
and our country. That is what led many of our
young men and women to go the United
States even before independence. That same
spirit inspired the young Kenyans who crafted
the Ushahidi app. It inspired Kennedy Odede,
founder of SHOFCO, and winner of Forbes’ top
30 under 30 prize. And it is that very same
resolve which drove Dr. Simon Gicharu,
founder of Mt Kenya University, and Ernst and
Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2014.
Our innovators and entrepreneurs have
certainly earned the honour of the summit. We
will honour them in our turn if we welcome
our guests with our customary hospitality, and
if we represent our nation and our continent
as well as we are able.
For this is our event – all of us. As Kenyans,
we have the opportunity to learn from the
experience and expertise of some of the
world’s top business development experts and
leaders, and to share with them our own
achievements and success stories.
As entrepreneurs, we will have the chance to
meet them in sessions, to pitch our ideas and
to grow the scale and impact of our
enterprises. Investors will find opportunities
for decent returns in some of the world’s most
cutting-edge, innovative and responsive
solutions to shared challenges.
To welcome our guests and friends with the
hospitality they deserve, we have had to plan
most carefully.
I am glad to say that Government, and our
partners, have devoted great care to these
arrangements, and that our work has been
rewarded with commitments from 1,400
participants – and a large delegation from the
United States, accompanying President
Obama.
It is an inspiration to note that of the 1400
delegates, a fifth will be Kenyans, and half
African. In the days before the Summit, we will
host a number of events so that our friends
and visitors can prepare themselves for the
big day.
Late on the first day of the event, President
Obama and I will also hold bilateral talks, the
better to strengthen ties between our nations.
I scarcely need to mention that our friendship
with the United States of America dates back
to the days before independence, and that it
has remained strong into the present.
The United States is now our second most
important trading partner. Indeed, our exports
to the US hit 30 billion shillings last year.
Our textiles find a ready market in that
country; our natural heritage brings many
American visitors each year. Of course, there
remains scope for better, more diversified,
trade and investment in energy, in technology,
and in manufacturing.
I am sure this diversification will be one of the
items on the summit’s agenda. Certainly, we
look forward to what is to come: to
partnerships, to shared prosperity, and to a
new era of innovation and possibility.
That is not to say that we do not have
challenges of our own. There are those among
us who still hope to pervert public enterprise
for private ends. My administration has led
the war against them; their corrupt schemes
will fail. Our country has endured the attacks
of depraved, ideological criminals. We have
fought them unrelentingly, and they know, as
well as we do, that they will lose.
We have not always made the most of our
natural endowments, but with the
new trade, new investment, and new
technology, we have begun to produce
green and renewable energy on a scale
unprecedented in our history. I welcome new
interest in this area just as warmly as I
welcome our cooperation with the United
States in our battles against terrorists and
strengthening governance institutions.
For all that, it is in our values that our two
countries are most alike: in our concern for
the freedom of the individual, and our
devotion to the cause of democracy.
It is these aspects of our relationship that will
be most refreshed by the Summit, and by the
visit of President Obama.
I need not tell you how eagerly we have all
waited for the day, or how keen we all are to
make it the most memorable of homecomings.
All I can say is that those who doubted the
strength of the friendship between the two
countries, or the depth of our engagement,
had better re-examine their assumptions.
All I ask is that you give President Obama a
hearty welcome when he visits our country.
I thank you.
