President Andrej Kiska started his first official visit ever to Kenya by meeting the country´s president Uhuru Kenyatta in the capital Nairobi.

According to President Kiska, Slovakia is very well-known in Kenya thanks to its development projects. “Slovakia is held in very high esteem here and its name sounds really good,” the President stated. He reminded that over the period of Slovakia´s help to Kenya, over 100 projects of assistance have been introduced and hundreds of volunteers worked there. Due to Slovak projects, several thousand jobs have been created and dozens of thousands of farmers have been employed.  The President added, Slovakia´s contribution to Kenya exceeds 10 million euros, Kenya being the biggest development aid beneficiary under the SlovakAid programme.

Both presidents discussed not only how Slovakia may help Kenya but also what the two countries may offer one another. In President Kiska´s view, Kenya is a highly stable pillar in the region of Africa, a partner in combating terrorism and Nairobi is a centre of numerous supranational institutions.

Kenya possesses huge potential as a country and part of its region, being its centre, the President stated. An example of combining Slovakia´s management and know-how and the country´s potential can, for instance, be illustrated by a nut processing plant which he intends to visit in Nairobi. He believes there is potential in nuclear energy or car production. ”Tapping in on mutual benefits – that is the very path of cooperation we need,” the President underlined.

Kenya has kick-started its education reform, it needs more engineers and well educated people. “I believe that the scholarship scheme to be provided by my country stands for one of the best ways,” the President said. Yet he believes that assistance could be much more significant. “Slovakia is a successful modern country and should even be more pro-active in providing assistance.”