Kenyan president William Ruto has departed for New York to attend the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where he is expected to spearhead Africa’s demands for reforms in global finance, climate action and international peace.
At the high-level week of UNGA, Ruto will reaffirm Kenya’s backing for multilateralism and argue for fairer access to development finance for the global south.
He is also set to press for reforms of the United Nations system, including changes to the Security Council, which African leaders have long criticised as outdated and unrepresentative.
Ruto will attend the Committee of Ten (C-10) Summit, where he will advocate for Africa’s position on Security Council reform and stress the importance of cooperation in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Kenya will also host a side event on Haiti to reflect on its role in the Multinational Security Support Mission, which deployed Kenyan troops earlier this year.
As chair of the African Union’s climate committee, Ruto will convene talks to consolidate Africa’s stance ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, aiming to rally leaders around a unified agenda. He is also due to host a breakfast on affordable housing, highlighting it as a cornerstone of social transformation, with more than 30 heads of state expected to attend.
Alongside these multilateral engagements, Ruto is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with world leaders, development partners and investors, with a focus on securing investment in agriculture, technology, infrastructure and energy. The talks will be framed around his administration’s “bottom-up” economic transformation agenda, which he has promoted as a blueprint for inclusive growth.
Kenya’s leader has positioned himself as a prominent voice for Africa on the global stage, but critics will watch closely to see whether his calls translate into tangible reforms.
