President Kenyatta Meets President Trump

Photo: White House

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

August 27, 2018

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AND PRESIDENT KENYATTA OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN EXPANDED BILATERAL MEETING

Cabinet Room
2:13 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, thank you very much.  We are with President Kenyatta of a wonderful country that we do a lot of business with, Kenya.  One of the most beautiful countries, from what I understand, Mr. President.

We have lots of pictures and lots of people that tell me how beautiful your country is.  And we do a lot of tourism.  We do a lot of trade.  And we do a lot of defense and security.  And we’re working very much on security right now.  And I appreciate you very much being with us and your staff.  This is really great.  Your representatives have been dealing with our representatives and making a lot of progress.  We’re talking about a very major highway/roadway.  And that seems to be going along well.  That’s a very important project, I think, for your country.

And so we appreciate, very much, you being at the White House and being with us.  And we look forward to the discussion.

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA:  Thank you very much.  And thank you for your warm welcome.  As you said, we’ve had strong relations that stretch back — all the way back to our own independence.  And we are here to cement that partnership.  We are here to strengthen the support we have received as a country, especially with regards to our security and defense cooperation has been immense.

I had a good opportunity to speak with Mike, both in his former capacity and his current capacity.  (Laughter.)  And we work very well together, and I want to take this opportunity to appreciate that.

But more importantly, even as we work on these aspects, what’s most important and what makes our country survive is the trade and investment partnership.  I mean, this is really what we should work to deepen much more as we go forward.

So I’m really looking forward to this discussion, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we take our relationship now to the next level —

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Good.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA:  — for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, you are here on a very special day because the stock market is up almost 300 points today.  We just signed a trade agreement with Mexico, and it’s a terrific agreement for everybody.  It’s been in the works for a long time.  It’s an agreement that a lot of people said couldn’t be done, and we did something, and it was very special.  Great for our farmers, our workers.

And our stock market just broke 26,000 for the first time ever in the history.  So today we have the highest stock price we’ve ever had.  And we’re very happy about that.  I said that was going to happen and it’s happened.  Everything I said is going to happen, it ends up happening.

So you picked a good day to come.  (Laughter.)  We’re in a very good mood.

PRESIDENT KENYATTA:  Well, let’s hope you’re going to transfer some of that into Kenya.  (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We’ll bring that over to Kenya.  (Laughter.)  Thank you very much, everybody.  I appreciate it.  Thank you.  Thank you.


END                2:16 P.M. EDT


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Joint Statement from President Donald J. Trump and President Uhuru Kenyatta

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2018

Joint Statement from President Donald J. Trump and President Uhuru Kenyatta

President Donald J. Trump welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya to the White House today.  In marking 55 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Kenya, and in recognition of the growing scope and depth of the engagements between the two countries, the leaders resolved to elevate the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, affirming it as a cornerstone of peace, stability and good governance in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.  This United States– Kenya Strategic Partnership will include an annual dialogue to advance mutual prosperity.

President Trump commended the Kenya Defence Forces for their service and sacrifice in combatting al-Shabaab and ISIS in Somalia.  President Trump also lauded Kenya for taking a leading role in the East African fight against terrorism and for its sustained dedication to this effort.  The leaders reaffirmed and strengthened their commitment to continued counterterrorism cooperation against violent extremists who seek to take innocent lives and deny fundamental human rights.  To further enhance this counterterrorism collaboration, President Trump welcomed Kenya’s decision to join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.  President Trump also thanked President Kenyatta for his diplomatic efforts to bring peace to South Sudan and to the region more widely.

The leaders pledged to deepen defense and security cooperation, building on the recent acquisition of military equipment made in the United States and committed to further enhance Kenya Defence Forces capabilities.  Further, the United States pledged to strengthen Kenya’s national disaster and crisis response capacity.

President Kenyatta thanked President Trump for the United States’ continued support of the Kenyatta administration’s efforts towards greater accountability, transparency, and institution building.  As democracies committed to a rules-based international order, the United States and Kenya share a common vision for free and open societies. This includes global freedom of navigation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

The leaders committed to expand their economic cooperation aimed at making their nations stronger and their citizens more prosperous.  In this regard, President Trump thanked President Kenyatta for hosting the United States delegation of the Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.  To further enhance the economic partnership, the two leaders agreed to establish a United States–Kenya Trade and Investment Working Group to explore ways to deepen ties between the two countries.  Further, the Presidents are pleased to announce that their governments established direct flights between Nairobi and New York City, a move that will expand the economic and cultural ties between the two great countries.

Recognizing the importance of high-quality infrastructure, President Trump and President Kenyatta welcomed the proposal by United States engineering and construction firm Bechtel Corporation to build a modern superhighway from Nairobi to Mombasa. Both sides agreed to undertake further consultations to conclude the terms of the financing agreement.

This and nearly $900 million in other commercial deals and engagements announced during the visit are expected to create thousands of American and Kenyan jobs, further enhancing the prosperity and economic competitiveness of both nations.

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