President Biden and Kenyan President William Ruto give remarks

and that was President Biden uh there side by side with Kenya's president hosting the first state visit to the United States by an African leader in more than 15 years our senior White House correspondent Selena Wang is there inside the room she will come to the camera soon but we'll start off with our Mar Alis Parks also our White House correspondent she's just outside there of the White House okay I'm listening uh that they're getting ready to clear the room so we'll bring you up together Mar Alis in just a second but let's just talk about uh the strategy here uh the strategy behind this state dinner um why Kenya's president and why now I think this president President Biden wanted to really uh make a point here that he was focused on the entire African continent and that he has found a real partner he find uh he thinks in the Kenyan president when you listen to just kind of the breadth of issues that these two men are working on together you get a sense that this has become a real fruitful partnership not only are they talking about investment Tech investment they're talking about things like uh counterterrorism work on the African continent together they're talking about how Kenya has agreed with the United States and been a strong supporter and Ally of Ukraine and its fight against Russia they're talking about obviously a big project together project understatement I mean a huge undertaking um trying to work on a global peacekeeping mission in Haiti uh a lot of questions devoted at that press conference um to Kenya's sort of commitment to Leading International peacekeeping Forest there on Haiti to try to combat gang violence and the US really supporting that effort uh financially supporting it giving Logistics and Equipment um so I think that a big part of the state visit was to Showcase that this has become a true partnership across the board and to um to celebrate that and to to let um sort of the Kenyan president really have his day here in Washington not only meeting with the president the Oval Office visit the state dinner tonight but also yesterday he was meeting with house Speaker Mike Johnson uh it was a real celebration of what I think has become our real partnership K so Selena kind of walk us through uh the partnership here uh between these countries and the US I mean clearly kind of playing catchup here with China yeah K exactly you're seeing the president really roll out the red carpet here for the first state V visit of an African leader in more than 15 years and you're right the US here is trying to counter China's influence in the region China has far outpaced the US in terms of investments in Kenya and the African continent and the president really making a pitch here that the US can be a more reliable partner one of the key parts of this new announcement new partnership is plans to help developing countries in Africa relieve debt China has made huge Investments they've made major loans High interest loans to low-income countries in Africa and many of them saddled with a lot of debt so this is a big part of that partnership but it's not just in terms of trying to counter China's financial leverage and influence in the region they also had major announcements in terms of emerging technology semiconductors artificial intelligence the president said that he wants Kenya to be the first African nation to receive funding from the chips and S act they're also increasing peopl to people ties and in the security realm as well the US here the president really wanting to show that the president is keeping his word on the commitment to the African continent and also this state visit and rolling out the red carpet also somewhat of a fig Leaf to the Kenyan leader he had promised to visit the African continent sometime in 2023 that obviously has not happened the president did say he hopes to visit next year but obviously that hinges on his reelection Kira all right Selena way Mary Ellis Parks thank you both so much

Channel: ABC News

Views: 28,016

Keywords: abc, africa, biden, house, international, kenya, meeting, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-110510837, politics, ruto, white, william

Id: c5akeGWyvFk

Length: 3min 46sec (226 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2024