The US Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman has urged President William Ruto's administration to level the playing field for American companies to get equal opportunities as China to invest in Kenya.
While speaking to Nation, Whitman reiterated Secretary of State, Antony Blinken's affirmation that Kenyans ought to be given more opportunities to do business with Americans.
Whitman affirmed that Washington remains committed to continuing working with Nairobi in a bid to consolidate the bilateral engagement.
“Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken was very clear when he was here in October 2021 that we didn’t want to say to Kenyans ‘you can’t do business with China' but give Kenyans an opportunity to do more business with Americans."
"And so, we are interested in making sure there is a level playing field for American companies and making sure that American companies understand the opportunity in Kenya," she stated.
In addition, the US ambassador also expressed her desire to see an increase in exports from Kenya to America.
“One of the things that I’d very much like to see is exports from Kenya to the US improve significantly. It’s important for Kenya because of the foreign exchange reserves and the opportunity for American companies to import to Kenya," he stated.
Whitman, who is ranked among the richest women in the USA, revealed the conversation between her and US President Joe Biden that led her to take up the post and essentially resign from her positions in companies worth billions. According to Forbes, her real-time net worth is indicated as Ksh373 billion ( $3.1 billion).
"Biden told me: Kenya is one of the most important countries in Africa, and so I’d like you to take up a post there. The other thing that I think would be a good fit for you and the United States is that Kenya is the East African leader in technology; with the mobile money services and the start-up community," she stated.
Recently, USA overtook Uganda as the largest buyer of Kenyan goods to become the top market for Kenya's exports- recording Ksh38.8 billion in sales as opposed to Uganda's Ksh36.2 billion.
