President William Ruto has called for a new approach to Africa’s economic partnerships, insisting that the continent wants investment relationships based on mutual benefit, sovereign equality and shared development.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Business Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday, Ruto said African countries could no longer accept business arrangements in which the continent’s resources generate value for others while local economies receive limited benefits.
The summit is focused on strengthening Kenya-US commercial ties, attracting investment and positioning Kenya as a gateway to the wider East African and African markets.
Ruto said investment agreements should be designed to deliver shared gains while improving the utilization of Africa’s natural and human resources.
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“We do not want relationships that extract from Africa or that are exploitative. We want a relationship built on the solid foundation of investment for mutual benefit,” he said.
“We want a nexus between our assets, minerals, human capital, talent, and friends who come with investment, technology and skills.”
The President further argued that capital generated from investments involving African resources should contribute to development on the continent rather than primarily benefiting economies elsewhere.
“We want to have a new kind of engagement, a relationship that is better than what we have had in the past and it must be built on sovereign equality,” he said.
Ruto called for greater mobilisation of domestic capital through institutions such as pension funds, insurance companies and central banks to support development projects across Africa.
“We want to work with partners ready to work with us to mobilise domestic capital from our pensions, insurance companies, central banks and guarantee those funds and use them to develop our continent.”
His remarks echoed his message at the Africa Forward Summit held in Nairobi in May, where he called for renewed relationships between Africa and its international partners, particularly in areas of economic growth and investment.
The summit, co-hosted by Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron, was held as African economies continue to face pressure to create jobs for a rapidly growing young population while reducing dependence on commodity exports.
Discussions centred on how Africa can attract greater investment in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, technology and logistics while ensuring a larger share of the economic value generated remains within the continent.
“The times before us demand stronger cooperation, renewed multilateralism, and partnerships grounded not in hierarchy, but in sovereign equality, mutual respect, and shared responsibility,” he said.
Macron, for his part, said the renewed partnership between Africa and France would be based on respect, courage and shared ambitions.
He said Europe had a strong interest in seeing Africa achieve greater economic sovereignty and autonomy.
“Your success is our success,” he said.
Ruto’s comments also come against the backdrop of his announcement that Kenya will stop exporting raw materials and instead process minerals locally.
The President has criticised the loss of economic value associated with exporting unprocessed resources, arguing that local processing of minerals such as gold, limestone, iron ore, graphite, titanium and soda ash could create employment and increase the value retained by the Kenyan economy.
The push for local mineral processing forms part of the broader effort to increase domestic value addition and ensure Kenya benefits more directly from its natural resources.
