Kenya is hoping that the United States will offer additional help in the fight against Al-Shabaab while fostering investments in the energy and infrastructure sectors.

This came out during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s televised address where he talked of the need for a better, more diversified, trade and investment in energy, in technology and in manufacturing.

Kenya also hopes to have a diversification of the export market in the United States in its bilateral talk’s agenda, so as to accommodate more products from the country.

“The United States is now our second most important trading partner. Indeed, our exports to the US hit 30 billion shillings last year. I am sure this diversification will be one of the items on the summit’s agenda,” said President Kenyatta.

Following are excerpts from President Kenyatta’s media briefing on President Barack Obama’s visit.

Why is the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) very important to Kenya?

This summit is very important because it will improve the image of the country especially with investors. It will open doors to the American investors by exposing them to our markets, industries and entrepreneurs.

Though their investments, we will be able to create more employment opportunities for our people and improve the economic growth.

The conference is also a big boost to our tourism industry that has slackened for the last two years because of terrorism. It’s the boost the industry needs to get back to its feet.

What are some of the issues that you are planning to discuss with President Barack Obama during the bilateral talks?

We are planning to discuss some of the challenges we are facing. This includes terrorism, which is a global issue. We plan to discuss ways on which we can have joint cooperation so that we can tackle this problem together.

The United States has been a partner and supporter of our counter-terrorism efforts and we hope that from the bilateral talks, we will bolter this joint drive.

We also plan to hold talks on other issues including opening further the US market for our exports. We understand the importance of further diversifying trade relations between the two countries.

We will also talk about climate. Also on the table will be discussions on climate change.

What deals do you expect to get from this summit and bilateral talks?

We expect that the summit will focus on trade and help in improving the entrepreneurial spirit of our young people. We have several US investors who have shown interests in partnering with Kenyan firms and we expect that this summit will actualize these investments.

We would like to see young Kenyans partner with international organizations so that they can grow.

At the bilateral level, we hope to strengthen public private partnerships between Kenya and US firms so that we can have more investments in the manufacturing, energy, health and infrastructure sectors.

We also hope that we will reach a deal that will see more of our good reach the United States so that our export basket grows.

There have been talks of having direct flights between Kenya and the United States for a while now. Will these be part of the bilateral discussions between you and Mr Obama?

Definitely yes. Both countries have been keen to ease the movement of both people and goods.

We are pleased to have more tourists coming in from the United States and a direct flight between the two countries will be a major boost. This will be one of the areas that will be up for discussion in the talks.

Before the 2013 presidential elections, the United States talked about essential contact with the Jubilee government on the backdrop of the International Criminal Cases at The Hague. Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto still has a pending case, will this mean that he will not be part of the government delegation at the bilateral talks?

As far as I am concerned the Mr Obama is coming to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. He is coming to meet the government of Kenya and that includes the Deputy President.

With the investors coming in for the summit, what has the government done on the ease of doing business?

We have been improving on the easer of doing business within the country. We have reduced the processes and timelines in business registration. We have had several follow up meetings with the private sector and investors in a bid to make doing business in Kenya very easy.

We are happy that we have made progress in the registration of business and electricity connection especially for large users. I do hope that with these improvements, we will be able to attract more investors.

We are also analysing the proposed solvency and companies act so that it can also help businesses and investors.

We have seen parliament plot in amending the anti-corruption act so as to send the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) home, what’s your take on this especially after you ordered the investigations and prosecution of culpable civil servants? Will this also be part of the talks with the US president?

The fight against corruption is important for my government and I am sure we will also have it on discussions during the bilateral talks. We will push to strengthen our partnerships and cooperation so that we can have strong institutions that can fight this vice.

Parliament has done its part and I am yet to see the amendment. I am still waiting to receive it, if passed by them (members of parliament). As a government, once we receive it, we will review it before giving our position on it.

During this bilateral talks, what will more important for your government? The trade aspect of it of the security challenges?

Both are equally important. We cannot have trade in this country without adequate security. Both agenda will be equally important and we will approach them with the same zeal as they cannot co-exist without the other.

If President Obama raises the issue of gay rights in Kenya, what will be your response?

I believe that is a non-issue with Kenyans and it is not on any agenda that we have with the United States. We are currently facing serious issues in the continent and the gay issue is the least of our concerns.

We have to address important issue such as health, poverty, trade, security, climate change and these are the key issue on the discussion table.