History of diplomatic relations
Kenya recognised the Republic of Estonia on 10 January 1996. Diplomatic relations were established on 31 October 2001 in Stockholm.
Kenya has not accredited an ambassador to Estonia, and communication has taken place through Kenya’s missions in London and Stockholm. On 20 February 2009, Estonia’s Honorary Consul Kadri Humal-Ayal began her work in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Since March 2020, Ado Lõhmus, Estonia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme, has been residing in Nairobi.
Bilateral relations
To Estonia
Speaker of the Senate David Ekwee Ethuro, April 2014.
To Kenya
- Minister of the Environment Siim Kiisler, Nairobi, United Nations Environment Assembly, March 2019.
For more detailed data on trade with Kenya, see the Statistics Estonia application. Statistics Estonia application.
Estonia’s digital cooperation with Kenya is framed by the memorandum of understanding on digital cooperation signed on 31 August 2020 between Estonia and the East African Science and Technology Commission, or EASTECO, of which Kenya is a member state. As a result of the MoU, the implementation partner, the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications, organised a training course on e-ID for EASTECO member states in January 2021.
In July 2020, ITL, in cooperation with the Government of Kenya and Smart Africa, conducted virtual training sessions on e-governance. The e-Governance Academy has introduced Kenya to Estonia’s IT solutions in the fields of cybersecurity, e-democracy and smart governance.
Several Estonian technology companies from different sectors operate in Kenya, including e-education, e-health, smart cities and business software.
Estonian doctors have visited Kenya on several occasions as part of international aid projects. Since 2010, Estonian volunteers from the NGO Mondo have been active in Kenya, providing training in sewing and entrepreneurship. NGO Mondo, together with Tallinn University and representatives of the start-up sector, has developed a digital skills package.
Through development cooperation funds, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also supports projects in Kenya by Reach-U, Cognuse, TempID, eKool, Star Cloud, Garage48, Let’s Do It Foundation and Eesti Arstid Aitavad Maailma OÜ from 2020 to 2021.
In 2018, the project by NGO Quin-Estonia, “Testing potato cutting propagation and seedling cultivation technology in Kenya”, was supported with 12,907 euros.
In 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the global education project GLEN, or Global Education Network of Young Europeans, through which five young Estonian volunteers also assisted Kenya.
In 2008, Estonia contributed 800,000 kroons through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, to help alleviate the situation of internally displaced persons in Kenya.