At a meeting on Monday 8 June between the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, and Kenyan President William Ruto, the European Commission announced a strengthening of the partnership between the European Union and Kenya in the areas of trade, digital and investment.
The parties reaffirmed their willingness to speed up the implementation of the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into provisional force in 2024. They also agreed to continue discussions on the outstanding trade issues, notably customs procedures, trade facilitation and market access conditions.
The talks also covered stronger cooperation in the areas of artificial intelligence, digital identity and data flows, as the EU-Kenya data adequacy process moves forward.
As part of the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ investment package, the Commission announced €70 million in new funding: - €17 million is earmarked for modernising the Northern Corridor, the main logistics route linking the port of Mombasa to Central Africa, with investments in cold chains, maritime transport and the simplification of trade rules; - €15 million for extending the national fibre optic network; - €12 million for the digitalisation of the land register; - €10 million to support the Kenya Digital Transformation Centre and the development of artificial intelligence; - €16 million to promote the economic and social integration of refugees into host communities. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)