President Uhuru Arrives in France for a Two-Day Official Visit

President Kenyatta on Thursday arrived in France for a two-day official visit.

Kenyatta was received by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace in Paris where they discussed several bilateral and multilateral subjects of mutual interest to Kenya and France.

The two discussed the progress of key France-supported infrastructure projects in Kenya including the expansion of the 233-kilometer Rironi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Road whose construction is set to commence in September.

The expansion of the Northern Corridor road into a four-lane dual carriageway will be done through a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement at a cost of Sh160 billion. The agreement was reached during President Kenyatta's last visit to Paris in October 2020.

The mega project will be undertaken by Rift Valley Connect Consortium, which comprises French firms Vinci Highways SAS, Meridian Infrastructure Africa Fund, and Vinci Concessions SAS.

Further, Kenyatta and his host discussed enhanced cooperation in the health sector particularly in building Kenya's capacity to manufacture vaccines locally.

On the multilateral front, the two presidents spoke about the upcoming Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Summit in London to be co-hosted by President Kenyatta and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Summit is slated for July 28th and 29th and aims at raising $5 billion in five years for investment in the education of 175 million children in low-income countries across the world.

Kenyatta was accompanied to Elysee Palace by Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo, his Infrastructure counterpart James Macharia and Kenyan Ambassador to France Prof. Judi Wakhungu.