President William Ruto has commenced a two-day official tour in Italy to explore the possibility of major infrastructure and investment deals between the two countries.
According to a Press Release to the media by State House Spokesperson, Hussein Mohammed, the President will meet with the Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for bilateral discussions on ways to strengthen relations between the two countries.
The head of state left to Rome on Sunday afternoon for the official visit and a number of memorandums of understanding and cross-sector agreements are to be signed as part of the framework to increase the strategic partnership between Kenya and Italy.
A lead item on the visit will be the provision of impetus to the works of Arror, Kimwarer, and Itare dam projects, which are parallel investments in the government’s irrigation pillar of the three national priorities.
Hussein Mohammed remarked that the projects will contribute immensely to Kenya’s transformation from a third-world to first-world economy by equipping irrigation, achieving food security, and increasing agricultural productivity.
He said that the government’s other priorities are the expansion of infrastructure and the acceleration of power generation.
The dam projects form part of a bigger national plan to increase irrigation to 2. 5 million acres over the next seven years, a step that is likely to enhance food security and make Kenya a net agricultural exporter.
Speaking in Rome shortly before the trip, Kenya’s Ambassador to Italy, Fredrick Matwang’a, mentioned that President Ruto will also be visiting Piazza Venezia to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Ambassador Matwang’a further mentioned that the trip will contribute to deepen people-to-people relations as well as increase commercial ties between Kenya and Italy, since the two countries are looking forward to expanding cooperation in trade, investment, and development.
