Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Kenyan President William Ruto at the Signing of a Health Framework of Cooperation

SECRETARY RUBIO: Good morning. And I'm really excited to be here today for this. This is our - let me first start by thanking you, Mr. President, for being with us today, and for your minister for being here as well. Kenya is one of our strongest partners in so many different fields, whether it's the fight that we've fought together against terrorism on the continent but beyond that, and in our own hemisphere. Kenya's played an extraordinary role, a really heroic role in trying to help stabilize Haiti - it's a very difficult situation. They've carried a huge burden as a country for the better part of two years now, and had it not been for their engagement - and I just expressed this to President Ruto, the - as bad as Haiti is it would be indescribable what it would look like today were it not for the efforts they have made. Our gratitude for the role they've played is extraordinary.

Had it not been for the role they played, what we are hoping to do next in Haiti would have been impossible, which is to transition to a gang suppression force. And we know there's a transition period and we're going to be very involved in being helpful in bridging that. And we want them, and we hope to encourage them to continue to be engaged moving forward as we move into this new phase of trying to bring stability to Haiti, but we understand and believe they cannot do it by themselves.

So I wanted to use this as an opportunity to continue to encourage countries in the region and around the world to step up and contribute and be a part of this effort. We need their money, we need their funds, and we need their personnel as well to make this work. If we had five or ten countries willing to step forward and do just half of what Kenya's done already it would be an extraordinary achievement.

And we hope that that will happen. It needs to happen. If we're serious about it it needs to happen. We - everybody loves to have press conferences and put out statements about how terrible the situation is in Haiti; it's time to do something about it. And I particularly point to the countries in our hemisphere, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Caribbean Basin and beyond - that we need to step up in this hemisphere and do more. The United States will continue to do its part, but I just wanted to express, again, our gratitude.

Today, we're here to announce the first signing that we're going to have with the first country in the world on our America First Global Health Strategy. And I want to, for members of the press and the public that will learn about this through you, walk a little bit, very briefly, into exactly what the thinking is.

The United States has spent billions of dollars over the years in helping with health strategies all across the world. What we learned over time and especially after coming here, is that oftentimes - and I'm oversimplifying it but this is an accurate description - what would happen is we would go to a country and say we're going to help you with your health care needs. Then we would drive over to western - northern Virginian somewhere, find an NGO, one of these organizations, give them all the money, tell them go to this country and do their health care program for them. That NGO would then take about - some percentage of that money for their overhead and administrative costs, and by the time it got down to it, the host country had very little influence, it was sort of imposed on them, and only a percentage of the overall money ever actually reached the patients and the people on the ground that we were trying to help because of these costs.

This makes no sense. So why are we hiring American and international NGOs to go into other countries and run health care systems that are parallel and sometimes in conflict with the health care systems of the host country? If we're trying to help countries, help the country, don't help the NGO to go in and find a new line of business. And so that's what - the model that we're breaking. We're not doing this anymore. We are not going to spend billions of dollars funding the NGO industrial complex while close and important partners like Kenya are - either have no role to play or have very little influence over how health care money is being spent. Bottom line is if you want to help a country, work with that country, not work with a third party that imposes things on that country.

And so for us the first - we hope to sign many of these in the days to come, but the first one we're going to sign is with Kenya, and the reason why is twofold. Number one, because of our close partnership. Number two, because they are a highly - they have stable and strong institutions, both in government and in the health care sector. And over the next few years we're going to be investing $1.6 billion in health assistance over the next five years, and you'll see how that program works out, but the investment is in combination. It will allow us, first of all, to leverage private - the private sector to create a sustainable U.S. health assistance model around the world - and not just in Kenya, but this is the perfect place to prove that it's going to work, because it is going to work.

And what it means is that money is not just going to be spent to provide medicine and care; it's going to be spent to improve the domestic infrastructure, health care infrastructure, so that in five or six or seven or eight years countries will say we no longer need this much assistance, if any, because we have our own system, you've helped us to build it, it's now delivering results; and, in fact, we now - these third - like maybe Kenya - want to go and teach other countries how to do it. And this is a very real possibility and it's something we believe in.

By the way, Kenya will - our partner. Okay, we're not imposing this. They're our partner; $850 million is what they're going to give to support these efforts. So this is truly a partnership. This is the way we should be doing assistance around the world. True assistance is self-sustainability, building the ability to sustain yourself in the long term.

So it's an honor to be able to do this with you today. I'm excited. This is our first one. We - we hope to sign, I don't know, 30, 40, how many? Fifty? Okay. Well, this is number one. We'll always remember this one. You always - the first one is the one that - and we think we've picked the perfect partner. I thank you for being here today. I know you're also here, you're going to join us in a few minutes over at the Institute of Peace for another important topic on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, so we're grateful you're here for both of these things, but it lined up perfectly.

We are honored to welcome you to the State Department, Mr. President, and thank you for joining us today.

PRESIDENT RUTO: Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you very much, Secretary Rubio. Secretary of State of the United States, distinguished members of the United States delegation, ladies and gentlemen, for over a quarter of a century the United States has worked alongside Kenya, investing over $7 billion in well-being, health, and progress for our citizens. This partnership has saved millions from malaria, from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other life-threatening outbreaks.

Together we have built resilient - resilience, restored hope, and supported impactful institutions. Today we reaffirm this consequential, transformative, and historic partnership which stands as a testament that - that becomes possible when two friendly nations unite around a common vision and a shared resolve to make health care systems not only stronger, but more resilient and truly sustainable.

The framework we sign today adds momentum to my administration's universal health coverage that is focused on supply of modern equipment to our hospitals, efficient and timely delivery of health commodities to our facilities, enhancement of our health workforce, and health insurance for all, leaving no Kenyan behind. This facility will also boost disease surveillance and emergency preparedness.

On behalf of the government and people of Kenya, I express profound gratitude to the United States, to President Donald Trump, and to you, Marco, for the commitment of U.S. dollars - 1.6 billion - to Kenya over the next five years. This gesture of goodwill by President Trump on behalf of the American taxpayers reinforce our ongoing mobilization of domestic resources by Kenyans and actors and stakeholders in Kenya to the health sector. And I assure you that every shilling and every dollar will be spent efficiently, effectively, and accountably.

And let me say this for the record, that already we are mobilizing our own domestic resources to the tune of $3 billion to support the health - deployment of health infrastructure in Kenya. Not just health personnel - we now have 107,000 community health promotors built into the health infrastructure, building from the bottom of the pyramid in every village, in every health center, in every dispensary, and making sure that health does not become a privilege for those who can afford, but a right for every citizen.

Thank you very much to President Trump and his foresight and commitment to the relationship that exists between Kenya and the United States and between the United States and Africa. And let me say this, that as we sign this agreement - the first one ever - we don't take it for granted that many officials have spent many hours in putting this together. I want to commend them, both from the United States and from Kenya, so that we can do the easy job - me and Marco here - to do the final seam of this agreement.

Let me also commit that Kenya will continue to be available in Haiti, to do what we can to ensure that the experience we have gathered over the last couple of months - running into two years now - will be of benefit to the Gang Suppression Force. I did promise that we are not going to walk away from Haiti, and I want to say that Kenya would not have succeeded in Haiti if it were not for the support, the friendship, and the partnership of the United States.

We look forward - and I join Secretary Marco - in encouraging others from across the globe, especially in this region, the Organization of American States, that this is your neighborhood. If they can step forward with personnel, with resources, with equipment, with funding, we can all contribute to helping humanity in Haiti. And Kenya will play our role, we will make sure that there is a smooth transition, and we will play our roles even after that to make sure that we do not lose the gains that have been made. Thank you very much.

We will be also participating in one of the most consequential and historic signing ceremonies in the next event on eastern DRC that will see stability, peace, and progress achieved as a result of the bringing together of the various teams and creating an ecosystem where our region, the East African region, we can unlock the potential that comes out of the peace and stability that we envisage, and encourage all actors that we work together towards the success of what President Trump has put together. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

(The framework was signed.)

(Applause.)

PRESIDENT RUTO: Congratulations again, Secretary Rubio.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. This was great. And we'll see you in a few minutes, right?

PRESIDENT RUTO: Yes, we'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you.

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