SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.

, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA ON 5TH NORTHERN CORRIDOR INTEGRATION SUMMIT AT SAFARI PARK HOTEL, NAIROBI ON 2ND MAY, 2014 Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Heads of Delegation Present, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me begin by thanking you for honouring my invitation to this im ortant Summit! "t is a leasure for me to #elcome you all to $airobi and in articular to this %orum! &e highly a reciate your resence as it bolsters our bonds! 'aribuni $airobi( Let me also commend the )inisters and senior o*cials #ho have been meeting during the last t#o days, for their diligence in re aring for the Summit! &e look for#ard to re+ecting on your re ort, and to advancing the #ork you have done! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, ,ur region still faces a signi-cant infrastructure de-cit challenge.#e must,therefore, continue to construct the infrastructure #e need to raise our economies to the ath of higher gro#th! "n the near term, #e #ill need to ex and, u grade and rehabilitate the trans ort net#ork throughout our entire region to o en #ider economic o ortunities for our eo les! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Since our -rst Summit in Entebbe last year, #e have made remarkable rogress in the riority areas #e identi-ed as crucial to our engagement! /his builds on the longer history of the summits, #hich have seen a successive ex ansion of the sco e of our coo eration 0 animated, as al#ays, by our long1term aim of full integration! 2llo# me to mention some of our signal achievements so far! 2s you kno#, our region remains beset by serious de-ciencies in energy roduction! &e chose to deal #ith that di*culty by investing in several generation and transmission ro3ects, articularly in the roduction of geothermal o#er, in the construction of oil i elines, in o#er interconnection and in the construction of an oil re-nery! /here is rogress to re ort. the )emorandum on Geothermal Energy #as signed in %ebruarythis year, #hile the electricity inter1connections bet#een our countries are on track for com letion by 2 ril next year! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

&e long ago recognised that #e #ould need to build our eo le4s skills if #e #ere to achieve our ambitions! "t is, therefore, my leasure to remind you that, at our last summit, #e resolved to identify riority skills needed in the "ntegration Pro3ects, through a regional skills audit for each sector! &e also agreed to consider allocating funds for ca acity building for various institutions across the region5 the aim #as to rehabilitate and u grade their facilities! Ladies and Gentlemen, /hese measures #ill enliven the training rogrammes #e must have, if #e are to meet the demand for skilled men and #omen that #ill follo# the ex ansion of our infrastructure! " #ish also to recall our resolution to coo erate in the develo ment of our commodities exchange!/o hasten the integration of 6ommodities Exchange in the region, #e agreed to establish a 7oint /echnical 6ommittee at the regional level! " look for#ard to hearing from our )inisters on the advances they have made in this task! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 2t the %ourth Summit in 'am ala this year, #e launched the East 2frican /ourist 8isa and agreed to ermit the use of each other4s identity documents for travel #ithin the region! /hese t#o initiatives have been rolled out successfully5a real evidence of the region4s desire for dee er integration! /he advent of the single tourist visa eased the travels of our visitors, and e9ectively turned the artici ating countries into a single tourist destination! ,ur acce tance of "D cards for travel across our borders substantially eases our eo les4 travels, o ening ne# o ortunities for cross1 border trade, as #ell as integration at the level that matters most 0 bet#een citi:ens! "n the same s irit, #e also set out to o erationali:e the ,ne1sto ;order Post 6once t and to budget for e1visa, e1identity card and e1border management systems! " am informed that #ork on these matters continues at the ex erts4 level! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 6ongestion at our orts and diverse barriers along the main trans ort corridors have long hindered the movement of our goods! Since our -rst Summit, considerable im rovements in the movement of cargo along the $orthern 6orridor have been realised! 6ontainers from )ombasa once took <= days to reach 'am ala5 that has no# been reduced to > days! E?ually #orth noting is that the 3ourney from )ombasa to 'igali no# takes six @ABdays in contrast to CC days not long ago! ;ut this is not all about our achievements." note #ith satisfaction that multi le customs declarations for fuel have since dro ed by DEF! /hese

are great achievements5 but to sustain them, #e also agreed to remove all technical and non1tari9 barriers to trade! /oday4s Summit should therefore aim to build on these achievements by agreeing on ne# measures to remove the obstacles that remain! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, ,ur achievements so far are threatened by the insecurity and terrorism that has recently caused so such concern in our region! &e, the Heads of States, signed the )utual Defence Pact and the )utual Peace and Security 6oo eration Pact during the last Summit! /hese acts ex ressed our common commitment to take the -ght to those #ho refer violence and theft instead of honest toiling to earn ros erity and freedom! 2llo# me no# to encourage the artner states to hasten the full enactment of these agreements! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me no# touch on other infrastructure rogrammes #e are #orking on! Some time ago, #e set ourselves the goal of develo ing a standard gauge rail#ay system by)arch CE<=! %or my art, " can re ort that #ork on the )ombasa1$airobi section #as launched in $ovemberlast year! %ull construction is ex ected to begin in 7uly this year, and the line from )ombasa to )alaba is on schedule for com letion by )arch CE<=! /he L2PSSE/ ro3ect, #hich #e all ex ect to multi ly the o ortunities for trade and interaction bet#een our nations, continues to make steady rogress! &e also agreed to establish seamless o erations across our air s ace 0 #hether in the management of our air tra*c, or in the use and sharing of the information and resources held in trust by our institutions! /hese lans are backed by, and de end on, our commitment to artner in the develo ment of an "6/ infrastructure1related conce t! Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, "n conclusion, " #ish to note that these ro3ects and initiatives are extraordinarily ambitious! ;ut #e have no choice if #e desire to fully ex loit the otential of our region! &e agreed to undertake those initiatives con-dent that #e are e?ual to the task! "t remains only to rededicate ourselves to com leting #hat #e have begun! /hank you! God bless you all, and may He bless and lead East 2frica!