Kenyan President Ruto Begins Historic US State Visit

Kenyan President William Ruto opened the first state visit to Washington by an African leader in more than 15 years as President Joe Biden seeks to counter geopolitical headwinds across the continent.

Biden welcomed his Kenyan counterpart at the White House and then joined him in meeting business leaders ahead of the formal portion of the visit, which will start with an honor guard and culminate in a lavish dinner.

Asked by a reporter as he welcomed Ruto when he would go, Biden quipped that he plans to visit Africa in February -- when he hopes to be entering a second term following an election rematch against Donald Trump.

"We're launching a new era of technological cooperation between Kenya and America including new exchanges and investments in key fields of cyber security, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. And this progress is thanks to -- in large part -- to the leaders around this table. So my message is really straightforward and simple: thank you, thank you and keep it up. We're going to see more technological change in 10 years, I've said this for a long time and I mean it, than we have in the last 50 years," Biden added.

While Africa has often been on the back burner for US diplomacy, the continent has become a growing headache for Washington.

"Kenya is a young tech country. And as you have said correctly, we have spent a lot of time working with our technology companies, our technology investors. We've had twinning relationships between Silicon Savannah in Kenya and Silicon Valley in the US," said William Ruto, President of Kenya.

But Biden, after holding a major summit for African leaders in late 2022, has not made good on promises to visit the continent as president.