Republic of Kenya and United States of America are scheduled to hold the inaugural Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD) in Washington, D.C. on 7th – 8th May, 2019.
The Bilateral Strategic Dialogue will be premised on four (4) pillars namely a) Economic Prosperity, Trade & Investment; b) Defence Cooperation; c) Democracy & Governance; d) and Multilateral & Regional Issues.
Under the Economic Prosperity, Trade & Investment pillar, Kenya and the U.S. aim to step up collaboration that grows the economy through generating jobs and building technical capacity.
Further, Kenya and the United States will seek to deepen economic ties through maximizing Kenya’s trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and explore trade and investment opportunities post AGOA in 2025.
On Defence Cooperation, Kenya will seek to enhance cooperation in strengthening military and strategic responses to domestic and regional security challenges.
On Democracy, Governance and Civilian Security, Kenya and United States will deliberate on issues of common interests including shared democratic values, anti-corruption efforts and increased civilian security cooperation.
On multilateral and regional issues, Kenya and United States will pursue stronger diplomatic partnership which provides a platform to discuss cooperation and coordination required to uphold a rules based global order. This includes collaboration in multilateral fora such as the United Nations as partnerships that contribute to a free and open world.
The two countries are expected to sign the agreement to guide the Strategic Dialogue and the Security Governance Initiative (SGI) Joint Country Action Plan to enhance civilian security and governance cooperation. A Joint Communique will be issued at the end of the meeting.
Sources:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya