LIVE | Ruto & Stubb Speak In Helsinki – Kenya–Finland Talks On Trade, & Security | VERTEX

Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the signing ceremony. Today we will witness the signing of three agreements in the form of memoranda of understanding. The first agreement to be signed is a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kenya concerning cooperation in the field of education. May I invite his excellency Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz and his excellency Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi to sign.

The second memorandum of understanding to be signed is between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy of Kenya. The memorandum concerns cooperation in the fields of digitalization and innovation. It will be signed by his excellency Permanent State Secretary Jukka Salovaara and his excellency Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo.

The third agreement to be signed is a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of the Environment of Finland and the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry of Kenya. The memorandum concerns bilateral cooperation in the areas of circular economy, bioeconomy and climate change. May I ask his excellency State Secretary Mika Nykänen and her excellency Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa to sign.

This concludes the signing ceremony. Thank you. May I now ask the presidents to take their places behind the podiums. We will begin the press conference with statements from the two presidents. President of Finland, Alexander Stubb.

Thank you very much Mr. President, your excellency President Alexander Stubb, ministers, officials of both delegations, distinguished members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Kenyan delegation, I extend my very sincere appreciation to President Stubb, the government and the people of Finland for the warm and generous hospitality extended to me and my delegation. I also congratulate the people of Finland on their recent success at the Ice Hockey World Championships. An achievement that has brought pride and joy to the nation where hockey occupies a very special place. It is an honor to undertake this state visit to Finland following the successful state visit by President Stubb to Kenya last year as the first state visit by a Kenyan president to Finland and only the second presidential visit between our countries in nearly four decades. This visit marks an important milestone in our bilateral relations. Kenya and Finland have enjoyed a strong and enduring friendship since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1965. Our partnership is founded on shared values: democracy, sustainable development, peace, human dignity, and respect for the rule of law. Our engagement today reaffirms not only the strength of the relations between our two countries, but also our shared determination to build a future defined by innovation, sustainability, prosperity, and mutual progress. I thank his excellency the president for this gracious invitation and steadfast commitment to strengthening ties between our two countries. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, President Stubb and I have held candid, constructive and highly productive discussions aimed at deepening cooperation across a broad range of strategic sectors. Together, we reviewed the state of our bilateral relations and agreed on practical measures to strengthen collaboration, expand economic opportunity, and advance sustainable development. Finland remains an important partner for Kenya in Europe, while Kenya continues to serve as a gateway to East Africa and a strategic hub for trade, investment, innovation, and regional connectivity. We reaffirm our commitment to building a modern and mutually beneficial partnership that responds to the aspirations of the people of Kenya and the people of Finland. To give concrete expression to the outcomes of our discussions and the shared ambition of our partnership, the president and I have witnessed the signing of three memoranda of understanding covering education, digitalization and innovation, and environmental cooperation. These agreements reflect the growing depth and practical orientation of the relationship between our two countries. To strengthen cooperation in education and skills development, we have signed a memorandum of understanding that will expand collaboration in technical and vocational training, teacher development, competence-based learning and education innovation. Kenya will continue to draw valuable lessons from Finland's globally recognized education system as we advance our competence-based education and training. Recognizing the transformative power of technology and innovation, we have signed a memorandum of understanding on digitalization and innovation to deepen cooperation in digital public services, secure connectivity, innovation ecosystems, emerging technologies and digital transformation. This partnership will support Kenya's ambition to become a leading digital economy and innovation hub in Africa. Building on our strong record of innovation, including globally recognized platforms such as M-Pesa that have advanced financial inclusion and digital transformation, we have further signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the areas of circular economy, bioeconomy and climate change. This partnership will strengthen collaboration in environmental sustainability, climate resilience, resource efficiency, and green growth while supporting our shared commitment to climate action and sustainable development. In addition, we agreed to deepen cooperation in health, including universal health coverage, maternal, child and mental health, medical research, and the local manufacture of essential medical supplies and vaccines. I also shared Kenya's ongoing efforts under the Care program to ensure accessible and affordable health care for all citizens. To advance shared prosperity, we agreed to strengthen trade and investment ties and accelerate implementation of the Kenya-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement to which Kenya and the EU are signatories. I thank his excellency the president for facilitating engagement between our business communities and creating new opportunities for commercial cooperation, and we will be engaging with the business community in the course of this visit. These agreements and commitments are instruments of action that reflect our shared determination to deepen collaboration, expand opportunity, and deliver tangible benefits to our people. We are fully committed to ensuring their effective implementation. On multilateral cooperation and global development, Kenya and Finland reaffirmed our shared commitment to a rules-based international order and a fair, inclusive global financial system. I briefed President Stubb on the outcome of the Africa Forward Summit co-hosted by Kenya and France in May which called for reforms to sovereign credit rating systems and increased financing for green industrialization and digital infrastructure. I am encouraged that President Stubb in his reflection on the changing global order recognizes Kenya among the emerging countries helping to shape a more inclusive international system. This perspective reinforces our shared belief that developing nations must play a greater role in addressing global challenges and shaping global solutions. We agreed that Africa must be recognized not merely as a beneficiary of global initiatives but as an equal partner in shaping solutions to global challenges. Genuine multilateralism requires inclusive participation, equitable representation and shared responsibility. I thank Finland for its principled support for United Nations Security Council reform. We reiterate the need for a more representative and equitable Security Council, including fair representation for Africa in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership. We also agreed to continue working together in support of ongoing efforts to reform the United Nations as it marks its 80th anniversary and to strengthen its effectiveness, transparency, accountability and capacity for conflict prevention, mediation and peace building. In our discussion on regional and global peace and security, we exchanged views on conflicts affecting our respective regions and reaffirmed our commitment to dialogue, diplomacy, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Kenya and Finland will continue supporting efforts to promote peace and stability in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes. I reaffirmed Kenya's longstanding position that dialogue and diplomacy remain the most viable pathway towards a just and lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine. I am particularly honored by the invitation to participate as a guest at the 14th Kultaranta talks, becoming the first African head of state to do so. I look forward to contributing Africa's perspective to discussions on opportunities and challenges shaping a rapidly changing world. Allow me once again to express my very sincere appreciation to his excellency the president and first lady Suzanne for their warm hospitality and constructive engagements we have held during this visit. Kenya remains firmly committed to deepening its partnership with Finland and advancing a dynamic, innovative, and mutually beneficial relationship that will continue to serve the interests of the people of our two nations and the generations to come. I thank you.

And we'll now take questions from the press. The first question goes to Finnish broadcasting company, Ronnie Kuran.

Hello, I'm Ronnie Kuran. I'm with the Finnish broadcaster Yle. My question goes mainly to President Ruto, but maybe Mr. Stubb can also elaborate. Our president has often emphasized the growing influence and importance of countries belonging to the so-called global south. So how do you as a president of an African nation which is included in this global south see the position of the global south in world politics right now?

Okay. Do we take all the questions or I answer that one first? That one first. Okay. Thank you very much. It's long since I was in a classroom, so I'm not used to answering questions, but I will. First, the global south is an integral part of what is the world we live in today. And therefore the participation, the contribution, the ideas, the suggestions coming from the global south are as important and as relevant as suggestions coming from elsewhere. If I speak from the perspective of the global south biased to the African continent, I will tell you three things. Number one, we believe that we need a paradigm shift in the way Africa is being viewed. For a very long time, it was about colonialism. It was about aid. It was about assistance. It is our very considered view and this is the position we took at the Africa Forward Summit last month in Nairobi that going forward we need a much more forward-looking relationship with our friends and with partners, a forward-looking relationship that takes into account what Africa has to offer. We believe that it is no longer fair to view Africa using the lenses of the challenges that face our region. It's not just about war. It's not just about disease. It's not about poverty. That is a different view. There is a different view to Africa. A view that brings the assets of Africa into the equation. Africa has some of the largest natural resources that can benefit Africa and the world. Africa number two has a vast richness in renewable energy resources, hydro, wind, geothermal. That's why Kenya's grid, for example, is 90% green. Africa also has the world's two-thirds, in fact, of the world's remaining arable land that can feed the world. That is why today 40% of flowers in Europe come from Kenya and that can expand to many other things. And number three, Africa has a young, now educated population that presents a good opportunity as a workforce but also a market. In 20 years, by 2050, Africa will have a quarter of the world's population and will contribute 40% of the world's workforce. It is our considered view that there is need for a paradigm shift in the way Africa is viewed, so that Africa is viewed with the lenses of the opportunities and assets that Africa has to contribute to not just African prosperity but global prosperity. That's number one. Number two, we believe that we need to work together to resolve some of the hurdles that constrain Africa's growth. And there are three of them. Number one is limited access that today defines resources, concessional resources for Africa's development. And number two, to deal with a challenge of unfair financial architecture that limits access to development capital in the capital markets where Africa pays a disproportionately high interest rate compared to others. The current financial architecture actually penalizes African countries unfairly. And number three, we need to deal with the credit rating agencies that were designed for a world that doesn't exist anymore. So, we have ideas on how this can be dealt with. We believe and we are reorganizing ourselves as a continent. Number one, realizing that the development of our continent is first and foremost our responsibility as African leaders. We do not want to anymore assign blame to others. We want to take responsibility ourselves for organizing our own economies. And all we are asking for is partnership so that we can mobilize resources from domestic resources from Africa. We have for example close to $4 trillion of savings in our pensions, in our insurance companies. These are resources that can be unlocked without asking for money from others, which just guarantees we can unlock a lot of resources for the development of our continent. And finally, we also believe that for Africa to be able to make useful contribution to global progress and global prosperity, we have to position ourselves appropriately. And that is why we are pushing for a fairer international financial architecture and a reformed international governance where the UN recognizes 1.5 billion people in Africa, 54 countries that today have no say in the UN Security Council. They are not represented and it completely undermines the credibility of the UN system. We believe in that reform and I'm very happy that we share this position with Finland that there is need for reform of the international financial architecture. There's need for reform of the international governance architecture so that we bring the ideas, the contributions, the suggestions of every part of the globe. That is how we're going to move forward together. That is my take on the contribution of the global south to global progress.

Anu from MTV News. The first question for President Stubb. In the interview with MTV, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament's foreign affairs committee, Meretskov, hoped that you, President Stubb, would be appointed as Europe's representative for the ceasefire negotiations. How do you comment on this? And the second question for President Ruto. At the moment there have been no confirmed cases of Ebola in Kenya. Do you understand the residents' concern? Thank you.

Thank you very much. On the subject of pandemic in general, we have built a coalition of many countries because when you talk about a pandemic you're not talking about a situation that respects boundaries. The Ebola case in DRC is a source of concern for Kenya as it is a source of concern for all people globally in our region and globally. And as a responsible nation, we took the very early steps of making sure that we organize ourselves, we prepare ourselves to take head-on whatever situations that would come our way with respect to this pandemic. We have set up along our borders, especially borders that have people who cross from DRC. And just for context, we have thousands of Kenyans in eastern DRC. We have soldiers in eastern DRC. And it is natural that for us as a nation we need to prepare ourselves. So we have set up 23 isolation units, places where we can deal with this challenge. We have tested close to 100,000 people who have come into Kenya and by God's grace none of those people have tested positive. In fact, the World Health Organization has reviewed the numbers that were initially put out from a thousand cases that has now been reviewed as late as yesterday to 500 cases. The number of deaths have also been reviewed downwards from about 250 in early June to now 100 cases. So much as the pandemic is not as serious as it was originally envisaged, it still remains a source of concern for us as a region and for Kenya in particular. And having a huge diplomatic footprint with the UN office in Nairobi being the only UN office in the global south and being a diplomatic hub and a regional hub, we have had to raise our standards higher to make sure that we protect all our citizens and also protect all the UN staff and all our friends. That is the requirement of the constitution of Kenya and we have taken steps to make sure that our citizens understand this. Our friends also understand this and we have made it possible for friends to come in and support. We have support from different countries. We have support from the United States to manage this situation. They have also offered to set up one of the 23 isolation units. And we are working together to make sure that we manage this situation. And as I said, for avoidance of doubt, there is no reported case of any Ebola in Kenya so far. As part of a regional approach, the African Union is convening a meeting, a virtual meeting later next week to be able to rally our support and coordinate response to the Ebola question.

Thank you all for your participation. Press conference has ended. Thank you very much.