CS Kuria misses yet another key US trade talks
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More questions over CS Kuria non-involvement in US trade talks after missing yet another key event
More questions over CS Kuria non-involvement in US trade talks after missing yet another key event.
Trade Cabinet Secretary missed yet another key United States – Kenya trade event, further raising questions over his non-involvement in US trade events.
CS Kuria was conspicuously missing on Thursday as former Trade CS Adan Mohamed and currently an Economic Advisor to President William Ruto shared a picture leading a trade delegation at an event also attended by US Ambassador Meg Whitman.
“Leading the Kenya Delegation to the US- Africa Trade & Investment Roundtable in Chicago, USA,” he noted.
This is not the first time the outspoken CS has missed a key trade event.
On July 19, Kuria was absent in a trade deliberation between Kenya and the US where Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative, was leading a delegation from the North American country.
At a press briefing following the talks, Tai told journalists to ask Kenya why Kuria was not part of the meeting, leading to speculations that the CS’s past remarks were the reasons.
It is said Tai expressed reservation on meeting Trade CS Moses Kuria over his ‘loose mouth’.
The exclusion of Kuria also comes at a time when the country is negotiating a free-trade deal with the US ahead of the expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in 2025.
Kuria had since assuming office as CS, been engaging foreign nations and firms in trade talks, often announcing them on his social media pages.
He has, however, been conspicuously missing in US-led deliberations, which the Kenyan government has not explained.
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Among the CSs currently serving, Kuria ranks among those who have traveled the most, at some point claiming that he was representing the president and helping Kenya bag good deals to grow local manufacturing.
Kuria is known for his utter words that rub a section of Kenyans the wrong way, something insiders say could have scratched the US the wrong way.
The US is among the largest export markets for Kenya, with garments manufactured in the country’s leading Export Processing Zones (EPZs) accounting for the most significant share of goods sent to the world’s largest economy.
Kenya expects to finish talks for a trade and investment deal with the United States by the end of this year and to sign the agreement by April 2024.
Kenya is one of the United States’ top trading partners in Africa and has been a major beneficiary of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a preferential trade programme that will expire in 2025.
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