President William Ruto is expected to travel to Madagascar for an official State visit, only days after returning from a five-day tour of Europe, which culminated in his participation at the G7 Summit in France.
Vantage Ke can confirm that the President will be accompanied by several Cabinet Secretaries as Kenya moves to strengthen bilateral relations with the Indian Ocean island nation.
Among those expected to be part of the delegation are Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui, ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo, and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe. The three are set to take part in a Kenya-Madagascar business forum aimed at boosting commercial ties.
In Madagascar, President Ruto is currently attending the country's 66th Independence Day celebrations and is then set to hold bilateral talks with the nation's leadership.
The engagements are expected to centre on enhancing collaboration in agriculture, information and communication technology (ICT), trade, and aviation, as both countries pursue stronger economic cooperation and increased investment opportunities.
The Madagascar trip will be President Ruto's seventh foreign visit since late April. During that period, he has travelled to Kazakhstan, South Africa, Belgium, Norway, Finland and France as his administration steps up efforts to strengthen Kenya's diplomatic and economic ties with strategic international partners.
The visit comes slightly more than a month after Ruto hosted Madagascar's transitional leader, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, in Nairobi during the Africa Forward Summit. At the meeting, the two leaders committed to enhancing cooperation between Kenya and Madagascar.
During the talks in May, Ruto praised Madagascar's ongoing constitutional and governance reforms while reaffirming Kenya's commitment to deepening trade, investment and regional collaboration with the island nation.
The trip to Antananarivo will also be the first official State visit to Madagascar by a Kenyan Head of State since the two countries gained independence.
However, the visit is likely to reignite public debate over Ruto's frequent overseas travel and the continued use of chartered aircraft for official missions, with critics raising concerns about the cost of the trips.
State House has repeatedly defended the President's foreign engagements, arguing that they have generated measurable diplomatic and economic benefits for the country through new investments, trade deals and expanded employment opportunities.
During his recent tour of Europe, Ruto announced that Norway had pledged to employ at least 1,000 Kenyan seafarers by 2030, with the first 120 expected to secure jobs this year.
He also secured investment pledges worth Ksh20.9 billion in Belgium, including Ksh15.3 billion under the European Union-Kenya Digital Partnership and Ksh5.6 billion to support the African extension of the Blue Raman submarine cable project.
