Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Monday said Kenya is working on partnering with the United Arab Emirates to bolster school meals programmes in the country in a bid to increase the number of children benefitting from them.
Speaking when he hosted United Arab Emirates Minister for Environment and Climate Change Mariam Almheiri at Harambee House Annex, the DP said the two countries enjoy strong ties and Kenya is looking to working with the UAE to expand the school-feeding initiatives.
Almheiri is leading her country’s delegation to the inaugural African Climate Summit in Nairobi.
The courtesy call on the DP followed the initial meeting in Rome, Italy last July when the two met on the sidelines of United Nations Food Systems Summit 2 when they agreed to look into better ways of boosting the ongoing meal programmes.
On Monday, the two held discussions centred around integrating Climate Friendly Actions into scaling up Kenya’s School Meals Programme.
The Deputy President highlighted that Kenya is following in the steps of other countries like UAE that have successfully rolled out school feeding programs. He said that Kenya remains committed in scaling up the number of school children under the programme from the current 1.8 Million to 10 million by the year 2030.
He lauded the UAE for ranking as the fifth largest exporter of Kenyan produce while calling for more support as the government works round the clock to elevate the Agricultural sector in the country through the reforms in different sub sectors being spearheaded by the DP.
This year, Kenya has doubled its domestic investment into the meals programmes from 15M USD to 40M USD.
He said the programmes will play a key role in increasing the number of learners in school and improving their retention in the learning institutions.
The DP also praised the partnership between the two countries in the fight against radicalisation and terrorism.
The UAE Minister said her country was exploring ways to partner with Kenya in the school feeding programmes.
The minister also lauded Kenya for hosting the Africa Climate summit terming it a good opportunity for the Global South to highlight their challenges and propose solutions on Climate Change.
By DPPS
