Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua, on Tuesday, July 11, shed more light on why the state tour of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was postponed.
The CS explained that the two countries agreed to reschedule the visit to review the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).
The top diplomat revealed Raisi would arrive in the country on Wednesday, July 12,which was one day later than the originally planned date.
"The President of Iran, His Excellency Ebrahim Raisi, was scheduled to arrive in the country for a visit today. The visit was to provide the two countries with an opportunity to review and re-energize their bilateral relations for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.
"The schedule of the President has now been reviewed to allow for the finalisation of key MoUs that are central to the furtherance of relations. The Iranian President will now arrive tomorrow for a State Visit," read the statement in part.
Mutua indicated that Ruto would host Raisi at 7 am and hold bilateral talks with the visiting delegation.
"The President will be at State House at 7.00 am tomorrow for a bilateral meeting. He will, thereafter, proceed to lay a wreath at the Mausoleum of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta before proceeding to tour other African countries," he stated.
Ruto and Raisi are expected to hold talks regarding cooperation on energy, trade, agriculture, and technology.
Earlier, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed confirmed to Kenyans.co.ke that the joint press conference had been cancelled after consultations. At the time, he indicated that details of his future visit would be provided in due course.
Kenya was among two other countries that were to be visited by Raisi. The visiting Head of State is also scheduled to visit Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The cancellation of the press event led to speculation of a diplomatic tiff between the two countries.
The Iranian Embassy in Nairobi was yet to issue a statement over the postponed visit by the time of publishing this piece.
