New York
President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in New York on Sunday for a two-day working visit of the US, during which he is scheduled to chair a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) high-level open debate on diversity, state building and peace.
Having assumed her position as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on January 1 this year for a two-year period, Kenya currently holds the monthly rotational presidency of the Council for October 2021.
According to Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN Martin Kimani, Kenya's overriding agenda at the UN Security Council is to offer ideas and solutions to global peace and security in areas such as the Horn of Africa and the troubled Sahel region.
“The Security Council is a body that has the mandate to solve major challenges, but for many reasons has been unable to do so. We have ideas on how to do that, we have experience in building peace in our region and we bring those ideas and perspectives to the Council.
"Kenya is suggesting new innovations on how to approach particular conflict situations,” Mr Kimani said, adding that the country is encouraging the UN Security Council to work closely with Africa.
Alongside his engagement at the UNSC, President Kenyatta is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guteress and witness the signing of a trade agreement between Kenya's private sector and a consortium of American companies during his two-day visit.
In the meeting with Mr Guteress, the President and the UN boss are expected to discuss several subjects of mutual interest to Kenya and the UN, among them the global response to Covid-19.
“Kenya has been very specific on the steps it expects the United Nations to take particularly in regard to the Covid-19 pandemic vaccination, peace and security and how the world should get to COP26 in a month’s time. How the world responds to climate change is key to Kenya’s future prosperity,” Mr Kimani said.
On the business agreement, Mr Kimani said President Kenyatta will witness the signing of a new initiative between the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) and the Corporate Council on Africa, the largest umbrella body of US companies operating in Africa.
The business agreement seeks to enhance collaboration between Kenyan companies, especially the small and medium enterprises with their American counterparts in a deliberate government effort to create more jobs and employment opportunities for Kenya's youth.
Further, President Kenyatta is scheduled to participate in the Global Leaders' high-level discussion organised by the International Peace Institute (IPI) as a platform for world leaders to discuss contemporary subjects.
The President will be joined in the discussion by former Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein to talk about the UN Secretary-General's Common Agenda report.
