Kenyatta Attends Business Summit In Rwanda

The President left the country early today and was seen off at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by his deputy William Ruto.

The summit’s theme is 'Positioning East Africa for inclusive prosperity in 2020 and beyond'.

The Summit has brought together participants from both the government and the private sector from the East African region.

The highlight of the summit is a session graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda which is focussing on improving partnerships for inclusive growth.

President Kenyatta and his Rwandan counterpart are giving their views on the topic while also acting as panelists for the session.

The Summit will later turn its focus on how to stimulate the competitiveness of East African enterprises through deeper regional integration.

Cabinet Secretary of Industrialization and Enterprise Development Aden Mohamed will be among the panelists during the session.

Delegates will tomorrow listen to presentations on regional fiscal policies and how they are being employed to further liberalize and inter-connect East African economies for wealth creation and competitiveness.

Kenya Revenue Authority boss John Njiraini will join his counterparts from Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as the main presenters during the session.

The newfound mineral wealth in the region and how best East Africa can benefit from the resources will also be a hot topic during the conference.

The Chief Executive Officer of Athi River Mining Pradeep Paunrana will be among panelists who will discuss how to manage the resources and the opportunities in the mineral wealth value chains.

Other topics that will be discussed at the conference include how to accelerate M-commerce and regional labor policies and practices.

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, Kenya Association of Manufacturers CEO Betty Maina, the Director and Africa Head of Airtel Money Chidi Okpala and Nation Media Group CEO Linus Gitahi will also be among key speakers at the summit.

Senior government officials who were at the airport to see off the President included Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security Joseph ole Lenku, Chief of Defence Forces Gen Julius Karangi, Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo among others.

By Anne Muchiri