President Uhuru to Address World's Powerful Leaders at G7 Summit, the Only African Leader Invited to the Exclusive Meet

By John Wanjohi / Fri, 05/12/2017 - 12:03 / 1 Comments
President Uhuru Kenyatta will be addressing the world’s most powerful leaders in the G7 summit scheduled for next month. Uhuru is the only African head of state invited to the exclusive summit that will take place on May 26 and 27 in Taormina, Sicily, in Italy.
The G7 leaders include US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and the UK’s Theresa May.
The European Union President, Donald Tusk and European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker will also be in attendance.
The Italy summit will focus on among others the global economy, foreign policy, security of citizens and environmental sustainability.
Uhuru will be the first Kenyan leader to be invited to the summit since independence and the international diplomatic world consider Uhuru’s invitation a “diplomatic coup”.
“This marks the end of the transformation process of President Kenyatta from a pariah, who was wanted by the ICC before the 2013 election, to a respected man to go to in Africa,” Prof Macharia Munene, a lecturer in diplomacy at United States International University (USIU), said.
State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu confirmed that the President will attend the Summit as it is a great honor to be part of such a meeting “The President will honor the invitation because it is a great opportunity to place Kenya on the global stage yet again,” he said.
Kenya has seen its foreign policy profile grow since the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.
A host of powerful world leaders have since set their feet in Kenyan soil including former US president Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan as well as Pope Francis.
On Thursday, president Uhuru met with Britain Prime Minister Theresa May where they held extensive talks regarding the bilateral relations of the two countries.