President Uhuru Kenyatta is in Jamaica for a historic state visit where he met Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Monday afternoon.
The Head of State, who is accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, was received by the Prime Minister and Governor-General Patrick Allen in a colourful state reception that included a full guard of honour mounted by the Jamaica Defence Forces and a 21-gun salute upon his landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
The presidential communication team disclosed that Uhuru was set to be the chief guest at the 57th Jamaica Independence Day celebrations.
Before the independence anniversary festival, the President will be the chief guest at the 67th Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon.
President Kenyatta’s visit comes at a time when the Caribbean is commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of African slaves in the Americas.
Kenya and Jamaica have pledged to deepen bilateral and people-to-people ties for the benefit of the two countries.
The two leaders, who met at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston, witnessed the signing of four agreements among them MoUs on technical cooperation in tourism and in the fields of sports, culture and heritage as well as a framework of cooperation between the two governments and an MoU on political consultations.
Besides the signed agreements, the two leaders and their delegations held a bilateral meeting during which plans to introduce air transport connections between Kenya and Jamaica were discussed.
In their talks, President Kenyatta and PM Holness explored existing opportunities for cooperation in air transport with the Kenyan leader saying that flights from the East Coast of Africa to Jamaica will help strengthen economic ties between Caribbean countries and the African continent.
“Our national carrier now has scheduled direct flights from Nairobi to New York but we would like to see flights flying from the East Coast to the West Coast of Africa and directly to Jamaica, and through Jamaica to the rest of the Caribbean as a true way of deepening our partnership,” Uhuru divulged.
