Ruto Tours Europe to Reinforce Economic Partnership

From 7 to 12 June 2026, Kenya’s President William Ruto was on a European tour and visited Belgium, Norway and Finland. The EU headquarters are in Brussels in Belgium, and Ruto met with EC leaders in addition to the Flemish ones.

Following discussions with the EU, both sides agreed to fast-track the Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (#EPA). In 2025, Kenya exported EUR 1.59 billion of goods to the EU, while importing EUR 1.61 billion, making the trade more or less balanced. However, for the last three years, the trade volume has been stagnating around EUR 3 billion and the EPA seeks to give it a boost by providing duty-free and quota-free access for most products into the EU market.

Another typical feature of the international trade of an African country is the predominance of agricultural produce. Actually, flowers, coffee, tea, fruits and nuts account for more than one-third of the Kenyan exports to the EU. Therefore, Ruto is keen to attract European firms to bring in the technology and finance to push Kenya up the Global Value Chain (#GVC).

In Brussels, Ruto secured a total of EUR 170 of funding from the EU for various projects, including EUR 102 million to enhance digital connectivity and EUR 37 million for extending the Blue Raman submarine optical fiber to Kenya. In addition, Ruto had an audience with Belgian King Philippe and attended the official launch of the Kenya-Benelux Chamber of Commerce to foster business exchanges between Kenya with Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

In Oslo, the focus was on the Blue Economy and Shipping. The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association and Wilhelmsen Ship Management Company are committed to employing at least 1,000 Kenyans seafarers by 2030.

In Helsinki, the discussions and cooperation veered toward capacity building. Finland and Kenya signed an MoU to foster Technical and Vocational Education and Training (#TVET). Ruto commended Norway’s capable management of its Sovereign Wealth and stated that Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund can learn a lot from Norway.

As the relationship between Kenya and Scandinavian countries grows, Ruto expressed the ardent wish to be able to open an embassy in one of the Nordic countries. Ruto also received an invitation from Macron to attend the G7 Summit in Evian, France.