Kenya to host France, Italy presidents early 2019

French president Emmanuel Macron

NAIROBI, KENYA: Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma has said the country expects to host France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella.

CS Juma said the visit by Macron has been confirmed to be in March and the visiting president will deliberate on Kenya driving the global climate agenda thanks to it emerging as the world environmental capital.

“President Macron will come to attend the United Nations Environmental Assembly of the UNEP from March 11 to 15, 2019. We also expect that he and Uhuru Kenyatta will co-host the summit on One Planet Summit during the same time and the primary outcome of this will be Kenya driving the global environmental agenda,” said Juma.

The CS said Italy’s Mattarella is expected in Kenya by February but did not explain the purpose of his visit since it’s in the preliminary stages of planning.

The meeting, she said will also build on conversations and outcomes from last week’s Sustainable Blue Economy conference.