WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to welcome Kenyan President William Ruto to the White House in May, where he will make a state visit, after failing to keep his promise to visit Africa last year.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Friday that the May 23 visit will mark the 60th anniversary of U.S.-Kenya diplomatic ties and “celebrate a partnership that delivers results for the people” of both countries , while it will confirm “our strategic partnership”. with Ruto’s country.
It “will strengthen our shared commitment to promote peace and security, expand our economic ties and stand together to defend democratic values,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “The leaders will discuss ways to strengthen our cooperation in areas such as people-to-people ties, trade and investment, technological innovation, climate and clean energy, health and security.”
Ruto’s visit comes after Haiti announced this week that it is working on an official agreement with Kenyan officials to secure the long-awaited deployment of Kenyan police forces there. High-ranking officials from both countries recently met in the US for three days to draft a memorandum of understanding and set a deadline for the arrival of troops from the East African country in Haiti.
Jean-Pierre added Friday that Rutto’s visit to Washington, outside Kenya, will “advance the vision” that “African leadership is essential to addressing global priorities.”
The White House also confirmed that both Ruto and Kenyan first lady Rachel Ruto will be honored with a dinner. Biden hosted a state dinner in October in honor of close ally Australia, after the president skipped a stop in that country earlier in 2023 to focus on debt-reduction talks in Washington. But those festivities last fall were somewhat toned down given Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
Biden said in December 2022 that he would visit sub-Saharan Africa the following year, which would have made him the first US president in a decade to travel there. The president promised this at the end of a US-African leaders summit in Washington with 49 leaders, in which he suggested the continent would be a strategic focus as the US made political and financial commitments.
But in 2023, other priorities came into play. Biden made last-minute trips to Israel and Vietnam, as well as a secret trip to Ukraine. He ended last year by skipping a December UN climate change conference in Dubai, sending Vice President Kamala Harris in his place, and never planned a trip to Africa.
Biden is now seeking re-election in the November elections while juggling a host of pressing foreign security issues, including the war between Israel and Hamas and the ongoing debate in Congress over proposed foreign aid to Ukraine amid the war with Russia.
On Friday he travels to East Palestine, Ohio, where he has said for months he would visit the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment that spilled a cocktail of dangerous chemicals and caught fire in February 2023.