Top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell Fontelles arrived in Kenya Thursday evening for discussions on the future of ties between Kenya and the bloc, officials said.

Mr Fontelles, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vice President of the European Commission, was received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, by Ababu Namwamba, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary.

Mr Fontelles is in Nairobi for the first time in his new role for the European bloc.

A dispatch ahead of the trip said his two-day visit to Kenya will focus on a number of bilateral meetings with President Uhuru Kenyatta and other senior government officials including Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo.

He will launch the EU-Kenya Strategic Dialogue, a framework on the future of ties agreed earlier in June last year when President Kenyatta visited Brussels and met Charles Michel, the President of the European Council.

Strategic Dialogue

“The Strategic Dialogue will strengthen the EU’s and Kenya's regional and multilateral cooperation and focuses on the areas of peace, security and stability; democracy, governance and human rights, including gender equality; trade and investment; social development; climate change and the green transition; and the digital agenda,” a dispatch from the European Commission said on Thursday.

Mr Fontelles had visited Kenya earlier in 2019 as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain. But his new trip as foreign policy chief of the EU has been depicted as one meant to take ties with Nairobi to “a new level.”

The bloc had been negotiating an integrated trade pact with the East African Community (EAC) but Kenya went first and signed the deal as the other members dragged feet, fearing potential damage to their nascent industries.

Last year in February, the EAC agreed to allow member states to sign on the trade deal bilaterally, under an arrangement known as variable geometry. With the EU comprising its biggest export for fresh agricultural produce, the trade deal meant Nairobi could continue exporting without taxes into the EU, even as other countries think about the deal.

The Strategic Dialogue, one diplomatic source told The EastAfrican, could also be used as a tool to entice the region to sign on the trade pact, given the way the two sides will negotiate what other privileges Kenya could gain in future ties.

Mr Fontelles will also launch the Kenya-European Union Cooperation programme. Meant to last until 2027, the programme targets environmentally responsible projects, human development and digital inclusion. It will cost $361 million in the initial four years and will also involve projects meant to preserve peace and stability “with a special focus on women and youth,” the dispatch said.

Mr Fontelles will later visit Mozambique to meet with President Filipe Nyusi and Foreign Minister Verónica Macamo Dlhovo on Sunday with specific focus on the Maputo Peace and Reconciliation Accord, the work of the EU military training mission in Mozambique (EUTM Mozambique) and programmes supported by the EU to tackle an insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

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