Ireland's relationship with Kenya

Ireland and Kenya have a long history of friendship and a strong record of collaboration. Our bilateral relations have only deepened over the past ten years since the reopening of Ireland’s Embassy in Nairobi in 2014.

Diplomatic relations with Kenya were originally established in 1979, with Ireland’s development cooperation then focussed on improving access to health and education services for Kenyan people.

Contributing to communities

Building on this engagement and the strong people-to-people links forged over many years, in particular by Irish missionaries and NGOs working and contributing to communities all across Kenya, the friendship between our countries today reflects many common values, including our strong commitment towards peace and stability, education, youth empowerment and action on climate change.

Shared values

Ireland and Kenya also have a strong track record of collaboration in support of multilateralism. At the United Nations, Ireland and Kenya together co-facilitated the process that led to the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015.

More recently, Ireland and Kenya served on the UN Security Council for 2021/2022, working together effectively to champion issues such as multilateralism, climate and security, the central role that women play in peacebuilding, and supporting African voices in key Security Council decisions.

Climate action

As well as being a very important partner central to peace and security in East Africa, Kenya is also playing an important global role on climate action.

Through initiatives such as Young Scientists Kenya, the Ireland Kenya Agri-Food Strategy (IKAFS) and our institutional partnerships on agricultural development, Ireland is proud to be collaborating with Kenya to drive local innovation, and to make a tangible contribution to sustainable agriculture and climate proofing our global food system.

Building for the future

Irish and Kenyan people continue to build connections and partnerships – at political level; through development cooperation; with the two way movement of our citizens for business, tourism and education; and increasingly through trade. We will continue to support such efforts, so that the positive relationship between Ireland and Kenya will continue to flourish into the future.