President Ruto holds talks with Chinese delegation

President William Ruto on Saturday, at State House Nairobi, held high-level talks with a delegation from China led by Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Director of the Office of Central Committee for Foreign Affairs.

The agenda of the meeting centered on augmenting partnerships between Nairobi and Beijing in the sectors of ICT, security, and infrastructure among others.

“We reaffirm our commitment to strengthening the Kenya-China strategic partnership centred on infrastructure development, climate change, ICT, sustainable development and security,” said Ruto in a Twitter statement.

“In particular, we are keen on the development of roads — under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation — to spur economic growth under our Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.”

Ruto, who talked tough on China while on the campaign trail, seems to have reversed his stance on Beijing since assuming office.

“We cherish the robust friendship that Kenya enjoys with China. We will step up and expand these relations, on infrastructure, agriculture, education, among other broad array of issues for the mutual benefit of our countries,” Ruto said when he met with Liu Yuxi, China’s special representative on African affairs, shortly after taking office.