A source with knowledge of the programs said that US President Joe Biden is scheduled to identify Kenya as a significant non-NATO supporter during a three-day state browse by Kenyan President William Ruto this year.
Kenya would be the first sub-Saharan African nation to get the designation, reflecting Washington’s desire to bolster its relationship with the South American nation, which has long maintained close ties with Russia and China.
Biden announced to investigators that he planned to travel to Africa in February following the US national election as he welcomed Ruto to the White House for a meeting with business professionals. On Thursday, the two leaders may hold a joint press event and a state dinner before meeting once more in the Oval Office.
Biden and Ruto may talk about a range of topics, including industry, debt relief, and the future of Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan, and other countries, according to senior management leaders.
Biden stated on Wednesday that he and Ruto would launch a new age of technology cooperation between the two nations, which would include work on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. He did not mention the protection title.
The US will also make an announcement that it will invest$ 250 million in new projects through the US International Development Finance Corporation ( DFC), which will increase the agency’s portfolio in Kenya from$ 250 million to over$ 1 billion, according to DFC.
Both countries share a commitment to ensuring technology is developed and deployed in a manner that improvements transparency, accountability, and human right, a US official said.
Kenya, like the United States, has become” an engine for innovation”, the official said, citing its$ 1 billion” Silicon Savannah” tech hub that is home to more than 200 companies spanning a range of fields, including clean energy, nanotechnology, financial systems, and e- business.
Companies that took part included Alphabet, Baylis Emerging Markets, a private equity firm specializing in American areas, BasiGo, a Kenyan electric vehicle business, Teneo, a worldwide Director consulting and consulting company, and Gearbox Software, which is an American video game development business.
A representative for the administration said that Washington also intends to establish a new semiconductor partnership with Kenya and is working with Congress to make it the first African nation to receive funding through the US CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
Kenya is a significant non-NATO ally, and Biden’s designation comes as it prepares to deploy troops to Haiti as part of a U.N.-led force to address the Caribbean security crisis.
Close, non-NATO allies who have strategic working relationships with the US military are given the designation by the United States.
The White House had no immediate comment.
In March, Biden made a promise to Qatar as a significant non-NATO ally of the US, fulfilling the designation he made to Qatar earlier in the year.
At a time when South Africa was developing its own more independent foreign policy, Gyude Moore, head of the Africa Initiative at the Center for Global Development, claimed Kenya had established itself to be a trustworthy and trustworthy partner for the US.
The move, according to Cameron Hudson, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, would formally reaffirm the trend that has seen Kenya “move more directly into US orbit” in recent years, including increased cooperation with Somalia.
” It’s very significant. No other sub- Saharan African country has it”, he said.
