SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good morning everyone, and a very warm welcome to my friend the Cabinet Secretary Mutua. Alfred, very good to have you here, and I really appreciate the good, productive conversation that we had a short while ago.
However, before I turn to that and to the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Dialogue, which is underway today, let me just share a brief update on Sudan.
On Saturday, I directed the temporary suspension of operations at Embassy Khartoum, and we conducted a successful operation to safely evacuate all U.S. embassy personnel and their dependents.
I want to reiterate my appreciation for the leadership of Ambassador John Godfrey and the entire embassy team who managed the consolidation of our people and the necessary preparations for the evacuation under a very fluid security situation, even as they were tirelessly working to broker an Eid ceasefire. I could not be prouder of our team, most of whom are now en route back to the United States.
I especially want to express my gratitude to Secretary of Defense Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Milley, and the men and women of the U.S. military who executed the evacuation operation with their usual extraordinary precision and skill. They once again demonstrated that they are the finest in the world.
A decision to suspend operations at the embassy, remove our personnel from their assigned post, is among the most difficult that any Secretary has to make. But my first priority is the safety of our people, and I determined that the deteriorating security conditions in Khartoum posed an unacceptable risk to keeping our team there at this time.
I want to be clear that even as we have temporarily suspended operations on the ground in Khartoum, our diplomatic and consular work in Sudan continues. Indeed, in just the last 36 hours since the embassy evacuation operation was completed, we've continued to be in close communication with U.S. citizens and individuals affiliated with the U.S. Government to provide assistance and facilitate available departure routes for those seeking to move to safety via land, air, and sea.
This includes Americans who are traveling overland in the UN convoy from Khartoum to Port Sudan. We also continue to coordinate with allies and partners who are conducting their own operations, and to leverage those efforts to include Americans. We're taking further steps to support Americans and are exploring options to return the diplomatic and consular presence to Sudan as soon as possible.
We also continue to engage directly with General Burhan and General Hemedti to press them to extend and expand the Eid ceasefire to a sustainable cessation of hostilities that prevents further violence and upholds humanitarian obligations. The Sudanese people are not giving up on their aspirations for a secure, free, and democratic future; neither will we.
The United States will work with all parties, in coordination with regional and international partners, to bring an end to the fighting and a return to the transition to a civilian government.
Kenya, under President Ruto, has been a strong partner in this effort. And indeed, Kenya is a security leader throughout the region. That's evident not only in its commitment to resolving the current crisis in Sudan, but also in its support for United Nations and African Union peacekeeping efforts and the counterterrorism mission in Somalia, in its partnership to reach the November 2nd Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Ethiopia, and in its stewardship of the Nairobi process to advance peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And over the last two years, its tenure on the UN Security Council, Kenya has consistently stood up for the UN Charter and focused members on addressing the humanitarian and human rights crises across the continent and beyond.
Beyond peace and security, Kenya and the United States are partnering on a wide range of issues. And that's reflected in the breadth of topics that we're tackling in the Strategic Dialogue. One of the major focuses we had today is public health, an area in which Kenya is demonstrating its potential to be a regional and indeed a global leader. The United States is supporting Kenyan-led vaccine production, including through Moderna's $500 million investment in a new manufacturing facility near Nairobi, which will produce mRNA vaccines to tackle viruses from COVID-19 to Ebola, from RSV to HIV.
Kenya remains at the forefront of the global HIV response. Today that's nearly reached - and has nearly reached - excuse me - its 95-95-95 targets: diagnose 95 percent of all HIV‑positive individuals, provide anti-retroviral therapy for 95 percent of those diagnosed, and achieve viral suppression for 95 percent of those treated. That is a tremendous milestone that is saving countless lives, and we're proud to have supported this effort over two decades with PEPFAR as it's been operating in Kenya. Now, we're building on that success by moving to a Kenya-owned, Kenya-driven, and Kenya-funded framework that will position the country to achieve sustained HIV epidemic control by 2025.
Health security and food security are closely intertwined. We've heard loudly and clearly from African leaders that emergency aid cannot be the only solution. So we're investing in sustainable, long-term African food production. That includes our work, with the AU and the UN, to invest in nutritious, climate-resilient crops and develop climate-smart agriculture. And it includes mobilizing the private sector in that effort.
President Ruto recently announced 14 investments valued at over $150 million by private firms in Kenya's agro-industrial productivity. In total, these new partnerships will create over 20,000 Kenyan jobs, boost incomes by - for more than 1 million smallholder farmers, and increase sales and exports by over $130 million - while, of course, dramatically increasing local crop production and reducing malnutrition.
U.S. companies are eager to invest in Kenya's success. We're committed to supporting U.S. investment in Kenya - particularly in key sectors like information and communications technologies, agriculture, renewable energy - which will help Kenya achieve its goal of reaching upper-middle income status by 2030, while creating jobs and opportunity for people in both our countries.
Finally, we're discussing through the Strategic Dialogue how the United States can continue to support Kenya's democratic progress. Its recent and fair elections and orderly and peaceful transition of power are a model for the region - demonstrating the commitment of its people, civil society, and leaders to transparent governance that is accountable to its citizens.
So we have made a lot of progress, and we're proud of it, and we have a lot on the agenda today. And as with all of our Strategic Dialogues, particularly with Kenya, the work of today is also the work of the 364 days that follow. This is an effort that takes place day-in, day-out between our governments, between our officials, between our experts, but also between our private sectors, our civil societies, our citizens, building, strengthening a partnership between our countries.
I want to thank the cabinet secretary for his commitment to advancing this agenda, and Alfred, the floor is yours.
CABINET SECRETARY MUTUA: Thank you very much, Secretary Blinken. I'm very happy to be here with my team. And I want to thank you for the warm welcome that you have given to us and the hospitality, and this Strategic Dialogue that is very important for both our countries, and not just both our countries, but also the African continent.
Let me start the way you finished, and that is the issue of democracy. Kenya prides itself to be a democratic country that believes in the rights of the people to be able to go to the ballot box and choose their leaders and to live in a stable country where there's economic growth. And we want to thank the United States for the support you've given us over the years in ensuring that we have a democratic country. And we will continue expounding the views and the principles and philosophies of true democracy as it is and stability in the region.
Kenya is open for business, as we usually say. We are moving into an era where we are saying we want more trade, not aid. Kenya is well placed in the African continent to be a hub for American investors. In the African continent, we now have the African Continental Free Trade Area, with a population of 1.3 billion people. When you come and invest in Kenya, it means you're investing in the continent of Africa. You're able to supply your goods, you're coming from a hub that can able to help you. We have worked very closely with American companies, and we had a very good Chamber of Commerce meeting in Nairobi, where a raft of new initiatives were announced to enable people to be able to - American farms to be able to come and invest in Kenya. So welcome, Americans, to come and invest in Kenya as you continue.
In the area of our cooperation and Strategic Dialogue, you mentioned Moderna as a company that is about to break ground in Kenya. We welcome more companies to come to Kenya, because we've always been very good partners, and we'll continue working well together.
In this Strategic Dialogue, I think we're also talking about issues of climate change. The reality is that it is not a matter of when but if the world has transitioned from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Kenya, we're at a good place and only 2 percent of our energy is renewable energy, using hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind. And we want to grow that to 100 percent by 2030. And we want to work with American farms and American Government towards supporting the production of green hydrogen, which is what the future will need.
So we have looked at the past. We have fossil fuels. We've decided not to tap into them because the environment is very important. We have to protect now for future, otherwise the world will not be in a very, very good place. So we want to be able to work together in those many ways.
We'll be discussing many issues, ranging from security, peace in the region - as you know, Kenya has been quite involved in the mediation in Ethiopia, and also looking at what you can do for Democratic Republic of Congo. COVID has taught us that what happens in one part of the world will happen - will have an influence or an impact on what happens in the rest of the world. So we want to acknowledge the support we have been receiving, and the comradeship between us and the United States in terms of bringing peace to the region. And we are committed to be the peacemakers of the continent of Africa, if not the world, looking at silencing the guns, people sitting down and being able to work together.
It is in the same spirit we are talking about the Russia and Ukraine conflict where Kenya recognizes Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, and we've been calling for cessation of hostilities, and the steps that have been taken so far to tell others that you cannot roll back history. We're at a place we are by now; we have to move forward. You can't start claiming countries, or claiming countries that are part of you. Nostalgia is not the order of the day now. We need people to be respected, they need peace and security, and we have to have a system where we don't let things get out of hand. Because today it's Ukraine; what about tomorrow? What will it be?
We also are very happy about many things that are happening. But as they happen also, we are quite sad of what's happening in the Sudan. And we've been working closely with the Government of Sudan, trying to get to a place whereby we can have peace and stability. It is quite tragic that we have more bullets coming into Sudan or being used in Sudan than food. And it's a tragedy, because we see from where we sit a lot of international interference, a lot of other players trying to use Sudan as a playing field for whatever reason, for the gold in Sudan, for territorial strength and control of the region.
And we're trying to ask - we are asking external forces to leave Sudan alone. As an African continent and the AU and intergovernmental organization called IGAD, we are trying to find solutions for Sudan. I know you've pulled your teams out. Kenya is not pulling its diplomatic offices. We're not shutting them down because we want to have a presence as we negotiate.
President Ruto is looking forward to going to Sudan as soon as it stabilizes and there is enough security to try and see how we can engage the leaders. We are trying to engage the two warring parties, we're trying to bring them to the table so that we can have a good end, to a cessation of the violence. And what we want is civilian rule eventually over there.
President Ruto has offered Kenya to mediate the conflict and to restore civility and peace. And we are quite persuaded that a peacefully negotiated solution to the conflict in Sudan is within reach. And as always, we stand ready to make our contribution, and we'll be playing hand-in-hand with that. So we'll be able to work together and see what we can do.
I want to thank you. There are many topics we can talk about. We look forward to welcoming you back to Kenya sometime soon, and we look forward to President Biden also visiting Kenya, and President Ruto coming back, and thus holding these meeting at presidential level as we continue to work.
What I can assure you is that Kenya will remain a good partner, will remain a friend of the United States, and we'll be able to work in sync as we try to improve the world that we live in. When it comes to issues of trade, when it comes to the issue of health, when it comes to the issue of peace and stability, when it comes to issues of humanity, we are all the same people and we want to have a good life while we're here. And if we can work together as friends, it will be very good.
And at that note, I want to welcome Americans to visit Kenya. We don't get as many Americans coming to Kenya as they should. I think our elephants and lions are complaining that they don't see a lot of Americans in our national parks. So Kenya is a safe and happy place, and we welcome Americans to come down for safari where you actually get to interact with the animals as long as they don't - you don't get too close. But they'll be happy to see you.
Thank you.
