SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON.

UHURU KENYATTA,
C.G.H., PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE
DEFENCE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING
THE
OFFICIAL
OPENING
OF
THE
17 TH
BIENNIAL
AMBASSADORS/HIGH COMMISSIONERS CONFERENCE AT
LEISURE LODGE BEACH AND GOLF RESORT, KWALE, 24 TH
MARCH, 2015

Hon. Salim Mvurya, Governor of Kwale county,

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to join you this morning at the opening of the 17 th

Biennial conference of Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
This event enables my Government to refine and deploy
empowered representatives to advance Kenyas national interests
in countries and institutions outside our own. Through building
bridges for effective diplomatic engagement, we seek to thrive in
a globally competitive environment by actively pursuing win-win
dynamics.
This Conference has also enabled us to experience the pure,
magical beauty of this country in its best expression here in
Kwale. I believe it is important for each of you to carry a vivid
image of our glorious Nation and natural heritage as you
represent my Government, our country and its people away from
home.
This Conference has also enabled the National Executive build
effective bridges with the county government which has
graciously hosted us here. I thank Governor Mvurya for the warm

welcome extended to us, and for his support for this Conference.
We have all seen for ourselves how safe, busy and productive
Kwale is. We have experienced the tranquility of our Coastal
region, and its readiness to engage in the transformational
agenda. I want to reassure everyone that the Kenyan Coast is
safe, and that sound measures have been taken to assure all our
visitors of security.
I want this Conference to be the defining moment, not only of our
Foreign and Diaspora policy, but also of my Governments
transformative agenda. Assembled here are the personnel who
will hold brief for me and my Government in ensuring that the
aspirations of our people are realized in every engagement
regionally and abroad. There is a very specific and essential
foundation that underpins our external relations. These must be
aligned
with
the
vision
to
accelerate
socioeconomic
transformation and rapidly realized shared prosperity for our
people.
There are two critical pairings that feature our foreign policy and
even, this Conference.
First of all, there is clear and sound strategic wisdom in coupling
Foreign affairs and International Trade. Our balance of payments,
import/export regime, foreign direct investment as well as the
movement of people depend on the strength and effectiveness of
our relations with other countries and institutions. Clearly,
therefore, international trade cannot grow without sound foreign
policy. Our economic agenda relies on growing Kenyan exports,
both in volume and diversity, to support employment and wealth
creation.

Secondly, the pairing of this Conference with the Diaspora

Conference advances the rationale of launching Foreign and
Diaspora Policies simultaneously earlier this year.
In short, the urgency of our transformational agenda demands a
proper streamlining of Government. Lean, aerodynamic
institutions are required to swiftly deliver our aspirations without
being held back by structural and philosophical inconsistencies.
This is why we now have articulated a clear diplomatic and trade
agenda which addresses our needs vis-a-viz Kenya National
Vision2030 and the Jubilee Manifesto. We are serious on delivery,
and our new focus policy focus testifies to this seriousness.
Similarly, we have embraced and profiled our Diaspora as
significant contributors to our Nations growth and strength.
This Conference is therefore important as it inaugurates a new era
in our Trade and Diplomatic agenda. We seek to harness trade
and diplomacy to catapult Kenya into the league of the great
economic and political powerhouses of the world. Our policies
demonstrate that this ambition is both legitimate and feasible.
Your intense deliberations will enable you determine how you will
engage your countries and institutions of accreditation. You will
need to be able to position our National interests so as to meet
the imperatives of Vision2030. As my representatives in different
parts of the world, I expect you to have sound grasp of our
National interests. I also expect you to have internalized my
governments transformational agenda. This is the only way you
will form effective strategies to improve our balance of trade and
investment in traditional, new and emerging markets for Kenyan
goods and services.
On my part, I will ensure that my government gives you the
necessary support to perform well. One urgent task ahead for all
of you is to mitigate the unfair, unnecessary and damaging

profiling inflicted on our country, especially as regards the

security situation. At the same time, you will be required to
extensively canvass my governments achievements and ongoing
initiatives to render Kenya a compelling destination for
manufacturing, innovation and trade. Our various macroeconomic
interventions, coupled with intensive infrastructural investment
and the elimination of not-tariff barriers are calculated to make
Kenya a low-cost investment destination. This is why an intimate
understanding of my government is essential. You will speak to
these transformative projects in the context of the transformed
foreign policy to actualize its economic, cultural, peace,
environmental and Diaspora pillars.
Please revisit my Governments successes and work-in-progress
as we approach the 2 year Milestone since Inauguration. Your
understanding of the context of every intiative - from Uwezo Fund,
Kibera transformation, Olkaria Geothermal plants, Northern
Corridor Infrastructure Projects, Single Customs Territory- and
other achievements, will be extremely useful. Your active
participation in this Conference is therefore vital to your relevance
and effectiveness at your post.
Kenyas prosperity relies heavily on our ties with other countries.
Our region and our continent is our umbilical cord. We simply
cannot grow without Africa. Integration and deepening of fraternal
bonds with African countries is indispensable. The opening of new
diplomatic missions in Algeria, Angola and other countries, as well
as the appointment of honorary consuls, is not a ceremonial affair.
We are deeply invested in the pan-African agenda. We will
intensify our focus on Africa as a platform to grow, even as we
maintain and grow relations with the rest of the world.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is critical to
national socioeconomic transformation. It holds the key to
converting our relations into opportunities for Kenyans. It must

therefore take stock of the many Agreements, MoUs and other

instruments executed over the last 50 years. We want to know
whether we have made full use of all the opportunities created by
these instruments, and what we can do with them to catapult
Kenya swiftly into a middle-income, industrialised status.
As part of our expanded international trade mandate, we will
always seek to lead efforts to develop fair and equitable trading
practices regionally and globally.This is the reaon behind our
successful bid to host the World Trade Organisation ministerial
Meeting in December this year. It is also the reason that my
Government has offered to host the Tokyo International
Conference on African Development TICAD VI in 2016. Our
diplomacy is not in vain. Kenya is a leader, and it must
demonstrate its leadership through effective, thoughtful, inclusive
and transformational activity both locally, regionally and globally.
My Government has implemented the Uwazi pillar of the Jubilee
manifesto, Public service management must therefore be
professional, accountable and citizen-centred. Like eery other
public servants, I expect you to deliver every dimension of your
performance contracts. As my champions abroad, I want to see
excellent reports, because I trust you to be able, inspired and
committed to doing Kenya proud. Patriotism, professionalism and
diligence must be your watchwords at all times.
My Government is dedicated to eradicating waste, malpractice
and abuses within the public service. I am taking active steps to
realize a corruption-free public service. On 6 th March, I ssued
Executive Order Number 6 on ethics and Integrity in the Public
Service. As my representatives and the peoples advicates abroad,
I want you to be of exemplary integrity. You will be investors and
visitors first experience of Kenya. Make this experience a proud
one for us. Do not let us down.

As I indicated, my Government will support our missions to have

the budgetary, infrastructural, plant and equipment, staffing as
well as staffing levels to match our commitment to our policy and
transformational agenda. I assure you that this support will meet
expectations associated with a Nation aspiring to greatness.
As I conclude, I urge all of you to engage intensively at this
conference. Please make yourself ready and able to take up the
expanded and transformed mandate of our diplomatic service. I
want you to embrace the spirit of service all the time. This service
should be informed by values of integrity, professionalism and
patriotism. You can only really serve well if your mandate is
complemented by capacity. That is what this Conference is about.
I wish you all the best, and look forward to interacting with
polished, capable, engaged and inspired diplomats very soon.
I declare the 17th Biennial Conference of Ambassadors and High
Commissioners officially opened.