President William Ruto embarks on a high‐stakes European tour this Sunday, aiming to secure major bilateral agreements in London before championing multilateral reform at a global summit in Seville, Spain.
In London, Ruto will sit down with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to sign the Kenya–UK Strategic Partnership 2025–2030, a comprehensive five-year framework designed to turbocharge trade, climate action, technology transfer and security cooperation. State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed says the pact targets doubling bilateral trade by 2030, rolling out digital skills training for thousands of young Kenyans, and deepening collaboration on counter-terrorism, cyber-defense and regional stability.
Under the strategic umbrella’s trade and green growth pillar, Mohamed revealed plans to fast-track Nairobi Railway City—a flagship redevelopment of the Central Business District into a modern, transit-oriented economic hub. To fuel those ambitions, the UK has pledged up to £1.5 billion in fresh investments across key sectors by the end of the decade.
In a coup for Kenya’s financial services ambitions, Lloyd’s of London is set to announce the launch of a regional underwriting hub in Nairobi under the Nairobi International Financial Centre (NIFC). The move will position the capital as a gateway for insurance and risk management services across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Before his UK engagements, Ruto will attend the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville. There, he will press global leaders to reinvigorate multilateral development financing amid a landscape of rising inequalities, economic headwinds and climate emergencies. He is scheduled to co-chair a high-level session and hold bilateral talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI, with discussions zeroing in on clean energy partnerships, youth empowerment initiatives and bolstering climate resilience.
In London, the President will also deliver the keynote at the Africa Debate hosted by Invest Africa. The platform brings together sovereign funds, development finance institutions and private investors to align strategic partnerships with Kenya’s Vision 2030 economic transformation agenda.
His European itinerary underscores Kenya’s dual strategy: securing near-term investment and trade gains while influencing the global governance architecture that underpins long-term development.
