President Biden Reveals The United States Is Working To Make Kenya A Major Non-NATO Ally

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President Biden held a press briefing on Thursday with Kenya's president and revealed that the US was working to make Kenya a major non-NATO ally.   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00 >> Good afternoon, everyone.

00:06 Please have a seat.

00:07 Mr. President, six decades ago,

00:12 when Kenya declared its independence,

00:16 President Lyndon Baines Johnson wrote a letter

00:20 from our nation to yours, and he said,

00:22 "May the responsibilities of freedom

00:25 wake the best that is in you."

00:29 Today, we've marked 60 years of partnership

00:32 between our democracies,

00:34 and we're fulfilling that wish together,

00:36 and we're continuing.

00:38 I truly believe it has brought out the best in both of us,

00:41 not only in Kenya and America, but around the world.

00:44 It's had a positive impact.

00:46 But through our partnership, we're continuing

00:49 to meet our responsibilities in four key areas.

00:52 First, I'm proud to announce we're working with Congress

00:55 to designate Kenya a major non-NATO ally.

00:59 That's a fulfillment of years of collaboration.

01:03 Our joint counterterrorism operations

01:05 have degraded ISIS and al-Shabaab across East Africa.

01:09 Our mutual support for Ukraine has rallied the world

01:14 to stand behind the U.N. Charter.

01:16 And our work together on Haiti is helping pave the way

01:19 to reduce instability and insecurity.

01:21 And I want to thank you, Mr. President,

01:23 for Kenya's leadership

01:25 in promoting the national security support mission

01:27 in Haiti.

01:28 Our new partner -- global partnership

01:30 is going to build on all this progress.

01:32 We're going to make -- meet new challenges

01:34 with more resources.

01:36 And it's going to strengthen the security of our countries

01:38 and our countries around the world.

01:41 Second, we're deepening our economic cooperation.

01:43 Both President Roudou and I have focused on growing economies

01:48 -- our growing economies --

01:49 and growing them from the bottom up,

01:50 from the middle out, the bottom up.

01:52 And when that happens, everybody knows,

01:54 "Well, not the top down."

01:56 Because when the middle class does well,

01:58 the poor have a ladder up,

01:59 and the wealthy still do very well.

02:01 That's true in Kenya, that's true in America,

02:04 and that's true around the world.

02:06 Right now, in many countries,

02:08 debt stands in the way of growth.

02:10 Too many nations are forced to make a choice

02:12 between development and debt --

02:14 between investing in their people

02:16 and paying back their creditors.

02:18 So, today, we're launching what we're calling

02:20 the "Nairobi, Washington Vision."

02:22 This -- this initiative is going to bring together

02:24 international financial institutions

02:26 and nations from all around the world

02:28 to mobilize more resources for countries saddled with debt,

02:31 to open more opportunities to the private sector financing,

02:35 to promote transparent, sustainable,

02:37 and affordable lending practices.

02:39 These are big goals.

02:41 It's going to take time to see lasting progress,

02:44 but we're providing $250 million --

02:45 the United States is --

02:47 to the World Bank in a crisis response window.

02:50 In the coming weeks,

02:51 the United States is going to make an additional $21 billion

02:54 available to the International Monetary Fund.

02:57 And today, I'm proud to announce there will be $250 billion

03:00 in new lending capacity for multilateral development banks

03:04 like the World Bank to help low-income nations

03:06 invest in their development and tackle growing challenges.

03:09 This is supported by the United States

03:12 and many other countries as well.

03:14 Next, we're launching a new era of technolog- --

03:17 technological cooperation between the United States

03:19 and Kenya.

03:21 That means new partnerships -- new partnerships with industry,

03:24 artificial intelligence, semiconductors,

03:27 and cybersecurity companies.

03:29 New initiatives to expand affordable Internet

03:31 all across East Africa.

03:33 New education programs are going to bring Kenyan students

03:36 to the United States to study in the STEM fields.

03:38 And I'm proud to announce that I'm working with Congress

03:42 to make Kenya the first country in Africa

03:45 to receive funding through the CHIPS and Science Act,

03:47 which has served us well.

03:50 This funding will link their supply chains

03:52 to the United States and to our partners.

03:54 And spur innovation that extends from Silicon Valley

03:58 in California to Silicon Savannah in Kenya --

04:01 which, by the way, is already a $1 billion tech cup --

04:06 already a billion-dollar tech cup.

04:08 Finally, we're ensuring democracy delivers

04:11 for our people.

04:13 That includes Kenya's diaspora community

04:15 here in the United States.

04:16 Two years ago, our nation's first Black Vice President

04:20 and President Kamala Harris launched

04:22 the nation's first Presidential Advisory Council

04:24 on African Diaspora Engagement.

04:26 Today, we're building on her work

04:28 to strengthen longstanding bonds between our people.

04:31 I also want to thank you, Mr. President,

04:34 for taking action to implement the long-awaited

04:36 Public Benefits Organization Act,

04:38 which provides historic protections for civil society

04:41 and NGOs all across Kenya.

04:45 Like you, I believe the future is going to be won by countries

04:47 that unleash the full potential --

04:49 the full potential of their population,

04:51 including civil society, women, and young people.

04:54 I look forward to working together to implement this act

04:57 and jumpstarting anti-corruption reforms

05:00 to promote democratic values and bind our nation together.

05:03 Now, let me close with this.

05:06 Taken together, these are responsibilities

05:08 Kenya and America must meet in the years ahead --

05:10 meet them together as partners for security,

05:15 for prosperity, for innovation,

05:16 and, most importantly, for democracy.

05:19 But I know these responsibilities

05:21 will wake the best in us.

05:23 And I know it will bring --

05:24 not only bring our nations together,

05:26 but I want to thank you for -- again, Mr. President,

05:29 for being here and knowing we have even bigger dreams

05:31 of cooperation in our countries.

05:33 The floor is yours, sir.

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