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Jamhuri Day Celebration at the Kenya Mission to the United Nations, New York

Date: 
Saturday, 12 December 2015

Kenya Mission to the United Nations held Jamhuri day celebrations at the Ambassador’s Residence in Riverdale in New York on the evening of 11th December 2015. It was attended by the United Nation’s Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Jan Eliasson, Ambassadors and delegates from various Missions, Kenyans working at the United Nations, Kenyans living in the diaspora and other invited guests.

During his remarks Ambassador Macharia Kamau said that 2015 has been a challenging but also a successful year. It is in 2015 that a new development agenda entitled “Transforming Our Word: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was adopted at the United Nations by the Heads of State and Government during the summit in September, 2015. This was a culmination of a three year intergovernmental negotiation process (IGN) which started at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio, Brazil in 2012, followed by the Open Working Group on sustainable development goals which developed goals and targets.

The process was led by the Permanent Representative of the Mission of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations, Amb. Macharia Kamau and the Permanent Representative of the Mission of Ireland, Amb. David Donoghue. The Agenda will guide the development process for the whole world for the coming fifteen years.

The President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, who attend the Summit, was awarded the ICT award by the International Telecommunications Union in recognition of his efforts to promote the use of ICT for Sustainable Development.

Amb. Kamau said that Kenya was honoured to host Pope Francis in his maiden visit to Africa. It is in Nairobi that the Pope called on the World to reach an agreement to fight climate change and poverty in the on-going climate change Summit (COP21) in Paris, France. The pope said that the world was facing the plain choice to either “improve or destroy the environment” and that it would be “catastrophic” if particular interests prevailed over the common good of people and the planet.

Kenya was privileged to host the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) that was graced by President Barak Obama, of United States of America. This was the first time a sitting president of the United States of America visited the country. He Co-chaired GES Summit with the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta that was held at the United Nations, in Nairobi. Among other things, president Obama and Kenya’s President agreed to extend student and business visas for up to five years for Kenyans travelling to the United States and for Americans travelling to Kenya. The two governments are also working to launch direct flights between Kenya and the United States.

Kenya Mission has yet taken up another important role within the United Nations of steering the Peace Building Commission (PBC). Amb. Macharia Kamau has been nominated by the African Group to Chair the 10th Session of PBC in 2016.  He will take over from Amb. Olof Skoog of Sweden the outgoing PBC Chair Representing Western Europe.

PBC is an integral and important component of the peace and security architecture of the United Nations. It is an advisory body for both the General Assembly and the Security Council on best approaches to assist countries emerging from conflict including those at the risk of relapse to conflict. It was created in 2005 through identical resolutions in both the Security Council and General Assembly.

The Mission is pleased to announce that in November 2015, Kenya won elections to retain its Membership to the Human Rights Council for the second three year term in a row.

The Mission also continues to engage with the Assembly of State Parties and the New York Working Group on the issue of International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that Kenya's interests, as a state party, are promoted, protected, and projected. 

The Mission has also been vigilant on the deliberations regarding the country’s outer limit of its continental shelf and Maritime boundaries.  

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has requested Kenya to host the Second High Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation from 23-24 November 2016. Preparations for the meeting will be coordinated through a steering committee for Global Partnership and Amb. Macharia Kamau has been nominated as a co-chair together with the Permanent Representatives of Malawi, Mexico and Netherlands, to the United Nations.

Other international meetings which Kenya will host include 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in December 2015 and the 14th Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2016.

The Kenya Mission to the United Nations in New York is proud to have played a leading role in all the highlighted events.

Kenya Mission to the United Nations

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