Kenya reopens diplomatic channels with Belarus after two-year lull
Kingi's visit signals a renewed engagement with a sanctioned Eastern European state eager to rebuild diplomatic relevance beyond Europe—and increasingly looking to Africa.
Nairobi is quietly reopening diplomatic channels with Minsk, two years after Belarus's president, Alexander Lukashenko, paid a low-key visit to State House in December 2023.
This week's trip to Belarus by Kenya's Senate Speaker, Amason Kingi, suggests that the thaw was neither accidental nor fleeting.
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At the heart of the outreach lies agriculture.
Belarus is a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, and Kenya hopes to tap into that expertise as it seeks to mechanise farming and bolster food security.
Kingi described the engagement as serving both "economic benefit" and Kenya's "strategic national interests", arguing that such ties enhance the country's global profile.
He laid a wreath at Minsk's Victory Monument, met parliamentary leaders, including Nattalia Kochanova, Chair of Belarus's Upper House, and culminated his trip with an audience at the Independence Palace with Lukashenko.
Recalling his brief 2023 stopover in Nairobi, Lukashenko praised President William Ruto as "a very kind and decent person" and urged faster progress on a bilateral cooperation roadmap currently under review in Nairobi.
Belarus and Kenya have floated a draft agreement on air services, which would open a direct aviation link between Eastern Europe and East Africa.
Kenya and Belarus discussed such cooperation previously.
Earlier in 2023, the Kenya Kwanza administration proposed importing agricultural equipment worth Sh31 billion from Belarus - an initiative that stalled amid secrecy and, reportedly, pressure from Western partners.
The United States (US), Britain and the European Union (EU) maintain sanctions on Belarus, complicating Nairobi's balancing act.
Belarus, which maintains an embassy in Nairobi, remains diplomatically estranged from the West but is steadily expanding its African footprint.
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