STATEMENT BY H.E.

PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA DURING A NEWS

CONFERENCE AT STATE HOUSE, NAIROBI, 21st JULY 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Africa's riches are old and new. The resilience and diligence of our people are
ancient, yet we remain full of the energy, ambition and invention of youth.

In recent times, as we liberated ourselves and came to more equal relations

with the rest of the world, our diligence earned greater respect and reward:
some of the fastest-growing economies in the world are now to be found on the
continent, as are some of the most innovative and enterprising firms, whose
origins span the globe.

They come to us because they see the continent's potential potential yet to
be fully tapped. New partners join old friends in this turn to Africa. This
development should be welcomed. None of us can escape the interdependent
world in which we now live. None of us should want to. In the commerce and
interaction of diverse peoples are born that the ideas and practices that will
change the world.

That is why it is my pleasure to co-host, with President Obama of the United

States of America, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Nairobi this
weekend. Since its inauguration in the USA five years ago, it has grown into a
truly global gathering of entrepreneurs, innovators, Government leaders and
youth.

It connects men and women of imagination and enterprise to their peers

around the world. It exposes us all to new opportunities, while teaching us new
answers to problems of wide concern.

In its respect for diversity, entrepreneurship, and inclusion, it is a model for

richer relationships between and within nations.

This is the first time the Summit has come to sub-Saharan Africa. In its choice
of Kenya, the GES acknowledges the progress and potential of our nation, and

its leadership on the continent. It also acknowledges our entrepreneurial spirit,

our robust small and medium enterprises, and our entrepreneur class which
now counts many of our young people, and previously marginalised groups,
among its members.

Kenyas reputation for innovation and enterprise is fully deserved. It is our habit
to take risks in the hope of bettering ourselves, and our country. That is what
led many of our young men and women to go the United States even before
independence. That same spirit inspired the young Kenyans who crafted the
Ushahidi app. It inspired Kennedy Odede, founder of SHOFCO, and winner of
Forbes top 30 under 30 prize. And it is that very same resolve which drove Dr.
Simon Gicharu, founder of Mt Kenya University, and Ernst and Youngs
Entrepreneur of the Year 2014.

Our innovators and entrepreneurs have certainly earned the honour of the
summit. We will honour them in our turn if we welcome our guests with our
customary hospitality, and if we represent our nation and our continent as well
as we are able.

For this is our event all of us. As Kenyans, we have the opportunity to learn
from the experience and expertise of some of the worlds top business
development experts and leaders, and to share with them our own
achievements and success stories.

As entrepreneurs, we will have the chance to meet them in sessions, to pitch

our ideas and to grow the scale and impact of our enterprises. Investors will
find opportunities for decent returns in some of the worlds most cutting-edge,
innovative and responsive solutions to shared challenges.

To welcome our guests and friends with the hospitality they deserve, we have
had to plan most carefully.

I am glad to say that Government, and our partners, have devoted great care
to these arrangements, and that our work has been rewarded with
commitments from 1,400 participants and a large delegation from the United
States, accompanying President Obama.

It is an inspiration to note that of the 1400 delegates, a fifth will be Kenyans,

and half African. In the days before the Summit, we will host a number of
events so that our friends and visitors can prepare themselves for the big day.

Late on the first day of the event, President Obama and I will also hold bilateral
talks, the better to strengthen ties between our nations. I scarcely need to
mention that our friendship with the United States of America dates back to the
days before independence, and that it has remained strong into the present.

The United States is now our second most important trading partner. Indeed,
our exports to the US hit 30 billion shillings last year.

Our textiles find a ready market in that country; our natural heritage brings
many American visitors each year. Of course, there remains scope for better,
more diversified, trade and investment in energy, in technology, and in
manufacturing.

I am sure this diversification will be one of the items on the summits agenda.
Certainly, we look forward to what is to come: to partnerships, to shared
prosperity, and to a new era of innovation and possibility.

That is not to say that we do not have challenges of our own. There are those
among us who still hope to pervert public enterprise for private ends. My
administration has led the war against them; their corrupt schemes will fail.
Our country has endured the attacks of depraved, ideological criminals. We
have fought them unrelentingly, and they know, as well as we do, that they will
lose.

We have not always made the most of our natural endowments, but with the
new trade, new investment, and new technology, we have begun to produce
green and renewable energy on a scale unprecedented in our history. I
welcome new interest in this area just as warmly as I welcome our cooperation
with the United States in our battles against terrorists and strengthening
governance institutions.

For all that, it is in our values that our two countries are most alike: in our
concern for the freedom of the individual, and our devotion to the cause of

democracy.

It is these aspects of our relationship that will be most refreshed by the

Summit, and by the visit of President Obama.

I need not tell you how eagerly we have all waited for the day, or how keen we
all are to make it the most memorable of homecomings. All I can say is that
those who doubted the strength of the friendship between the two countries, or
the depth of our engagement, had better re-examine their assumptions.

All I ask is that you give President Obama a hearty welcome when he visits our
country.

I thank you.