Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Thomas Jefferson Room

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. Cabinet Secretary, it’s a pleasure to have you here today. So good to see you. For us, Kenya is a key democratic partner, and we see increasingly our countries working together not only on the bilateral issues and opportunities that we have, but also to deal with regional and global challenges. And we’re grateful for that partnership. The work that Kenya is doing to promote regional peace and security, the efforts that we’re also making together to deepen and strengthen our economic relationship – all of these I think are very important and positive signs of the depth and breadth of the relationship.

And I know we have a lot to cover today, but it’s particularly good to have you here. So welcome.

CABINET SECRETARY MUDAVADI: Yeah, good. Thank you for having us, and my delegation. Let me at this very early point in this conversation extend our greetings from President Ruto. He is happy that you have accorded us this opportunity so that we can engage. And we look forward to consolidating our partnership on the various issues that have to be tackled.

So we are happy to be here, and thank you so much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, everyone.