President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday night hosted a state dinner for the visiting Estonian leader Kersti Kaljulaid, an event also attended by ODM leader Raila Odinga and his top allies. Earlier, Kenyatta and President Kaljulaid held a meeting to see how their respective countries can strengthen their ties, going forward. The Estonian president also met the former PM before the power-studded State House nosh-up.
At the Thursday afternoon meeting, President Kenyatta said Kenya and Estonia had agreed to work together in pursuit of common goals such as regional and global peace, climate change, and the gender agenda.
“We are countries that are interested in regional and global peace, countries that are interested in seeing the multilateralism system work, countries that are interested in seeing private sector fully entrenched, creating jobs and opportunities especially for our young people,” President Kenyatta said.
Read: Ruto goes after Uhuru in renewed attacks, trashes IG Mutyambai
Uhuru noted Kenya and Estonia had succeeded in exploiting the talents and skills of their citizens to build their economies through the deployment of digital technologies.
On her part, President Kaljulaid said she had been impressed by Kenya’s use of digital technologies in public service delivery, and advised the country to consider tightening its cyber security protocols so as to ensure that the systems are tamper-proof.
The Estonian leader said her country will partner with Kenya in pushing for global issues that affect small countries especially climate change, cyber security, and peace.
“We are actually together in the (UN) Security Council and we all know why small nations are elected to the security council. This is because we adhere to international rules and regulations,” president Kaljulaid said.
She assured that Estonia will partner with Kenya in advocating for the enactment of laws that will ensure a safer international cyber security environment.
“We have been pushing digital security issues at the security council because after all when we are doing digital transformation. Our sovereignty will one day depend on how our systems work,” president Kaljulaid said.
Read: Headache in ANC over Raila’s new strategy to lock Western
The Estonian said her country was determined to forge a strong technology partnership with Kenya that will see the two countries share expertise in the area.
“We have wonderful start-up communities who are young and dynamic and have a saturated market, therefore we’ve turned our eyes to this continent. As leaders, what we are doing is follow our people, our businesses and that’s why the relationship between Kenya, Africa, and Estonia has developed quickly,” president Kaljulaid said.
