Africa is not the problem, Ruto says

President William Ruto  during the opening of the World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2026 in Nairobi on Monday April 27, 2026,[PCS]

President William Ruto has watered down misconceptions about Africa, saying the continent is an opportunity to be harnessed as opposed to being undermined, and Kenya stands as a major gateway.

Ruto regretted yesterday that Africa far too long, Kenya/Africa and Europe’s relationship has been seen as a problem to be managed, which is never the case, and called for a paradigm shift in Kenya-Belgium ties.

“Africa is an opportunity to be harnessed; it is not part of the problem the world is trying to solve. On the defining challenges of our time, food, energy, climate, or democracy, Africa is in fact the largest part of the solution. Consider what the continent holds: abandoned natural resources, vast clean energy potential, two-thirds of the world’s remaining arable lands, and the youngest population,” he said.

The President was speaking during a high-level business roundtable in Brussels, Belgium, where he took the opportunity to vouch for Kenya as a critical hub not only for Africa but also as a major gateway for business.

“In my opinion, the world cannot feed itself now or going into the future without Africa’s land, nor can it power its future sustainability without Africa’s vast renewable energy resources, grow or develop with Africa’s workforce or markets,” he stated.

To deepen economic ties, Ruto announced the launch of the Kenya-Benelux Chamber of Commerce and challenged businesses to help triple Kenya-Belgium trade to USD 1 billion.

He said Kenya remains open to foreign investors and urged Belgian manufacturers to exploit the potential, especially value addition in Africa, as opposed to exporting raw materials for processing elsewhere.

“Make it in Kenya, make it in Africa, make it clean and sell it to Europe and to the world. Africa is not a problem to be managed, it is an opportunity of a century, Kenya is your gateway to opportunity, and this chamber is the door let us walk it through together as partners,” he said

According to Ruto, the relationship that Kenya proposes to the European colleagues is neither built on dependency, but mutual and sovereign equality, nor assistance.

He said it is built on mutually beneficial partnerships, not on extraction but on investments that benefit everyone, hence the need to recalibrate discussions being held during his visit and the opportunities available for both parties.

“We have had the challenge of development in our continent that is premised on challenges of access to development resources, very heightened interest rates for capital required for progress, and on sovereign risks that sometimes do not reflect the reality on the ground… the longer this goes on. The longer everybody loses, and that is why this meeting is important,” Ruto stated.

“Africa is an opportunity, and Kenya is a gateway. If you establish in Kenya, you don’t just enter into one country; you enter into a continent through the African Continental Free Trade Area. You invest and enter into a market of 1.4 billion people with a gross domestic product of USD3.4 trillion. Add EAC, COMESA, the EU and UK, and Kenya’s combined preferential market access extends to USD70 trillion,” he added.

Ruto also insisted that setting up in Kenya will not only give access to African markets, but because it has signed an economic partnership with Europe, it will also give access to its market, giving rise to immense opportunities.

“Kenya offers the rarest thing of all, secured permanent access to Europe. Kenya is the only East African Community member that has ratified the partnership, and therefore every Kenyan product enters the European market duty-free, and that is the kind of confidence an investor needs to build a factory,” Ruto insisted.

He also stated that Kenya is a young connected nation, with 55 million people at the median age of 20, 85 per cent of adults are financially included, mobile money flows above USD 300 billion a year, and fibre connectivity to every county.

According to Ruto, the strongest endorsement is not what the Government says but what investors do.

He said trade between Kenya and Belgium remains modest, with about USD335 million in 2024, but this does not reflect the real potential, hence the need to set a clear ambition by tripling it towards USD 1 billion by 2030.

According to the President, some of the areas to explore include agri-business and processing, value addition, ports logistics, and clean energy.