Kenyan President Ruto in Qatar to Deepen Economic Partnerships
From 3 to 6 November 2025, Kenyan President visited Qatar to attend the 2nd World Summit for Social Development. While in Doha, He had a meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to deepen diplomatic ties and explore economic opportunities.
On 5 November 2025, Kenya President Ruto visited Baladna Food Industries, accompanied by Baladna Group Chairman Moataz Al Khayyat and CEO Ramez Al Khayyat. Under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (#BETA), Kenya is driving modernization, industrialization and local value additon (#LVA) with food processing and self-sufficiency among its the key objectives.
Baladna is headquartered in Qatar and specializes in the production of dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. In Qatar, Baladna has contributed to achieve self-sufficiency in dairy for Qatar.
Baladna is fully vertically integration under a model, aptly named from grass-to-glass. The company is involved in feed production, dairy farming, processing, packaging and distribution. At its 600-acre farm outside Doha, Baladna rears 24,000 Holstein cows and processes 800,000 liters of milk every day.
Following the visit, President Ruto welcomed the Qatari company to invest in Kenya to contribute to develop the dairy sector which presents immense potential. Currently, Kenya produces 5.3 billion liters of cow’s milk annually, but less than 30% is processed locally. Kenya is targeting a milk production capacity to reach 10 billion liters and to become a net exporter of milk and dairy products in the future. The preferred cooperation model would be a Public-Private Partnership (#PPP) whereby Kenya would guarantee a certain market share in exchange for capital and technology transfer.
Ruto is contemplating a partnership with Qatar to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta Internationa Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi based on a simialr model which was successful in Rwanda. In addition, Kenya Airlines and Qatar Airways would strengthen their cooperation to enhance connectivity and trade.
On another note, Ruto signed a quota for another 13,000 Kenyans to work in Qatar, adding to the existing pool of 77,000 already there. Last but not least, Ruto commended Qatar’s role as mediator and its efforts to bring lasting peace in the border region between DR Congo and Rwanda.