Kenya Spain Relations
Kenya and Spain have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation across various sectors. This follows a high-level meeting between Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, and Dr. Diego Martínez Belío, the visiting Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain. The meeting highlighted the growing strategic partnership between the two nations, in the areas of trade, development, and multilateral diplomacy.
This engagement builds on the momentum of President William Ruto’s recent official visit to Spain, where he co-chaired the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville and held bilateral talks with Spanish Prime Minister H.E. Pedro Sánchez and His Majesty King Felipe VI.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers discussions held in Nairobi underscored shared aspirations to enhance collaboration in tourism, trade, agriculture, education, infrastructure, and technology. Tourism emerged as a prominent priority, with Kenya expressing a strong desire to learn from Spain's internationally recognised tourism strategy, which combines cultural heritage, innovation, and world-class infrastructure.
“Kenya is eager to draw lessons from Spain’s exemplary tourism model, especially in integrating heritage, innovation, and modern infrastructure to attract global visitors,” said Dr. Mudavadi.
He specifically cited Madrid’s Mercado de San Miguel as an inspirational model for Kenya’s evolving approach to market infrastructure. This internationally acclaimed market integrates commercial spaces with modern services such as banking, conference facilities, and childcare, elements Kenya seeks to replicate to promote inclusive economic growth.
“Kenya is exploring opportunities to benchmark world-class models like the Mercado de San Miguel, as we develop inclusive, modern trading hubs that boost the visibility and competitiveness of our local products both regionally and globally,” he added.
The Mercado de San Miguel is one of Europe’s leading gastronomic markets, making it one of Madrid’s most popular sites, attracting the majority of the city’s visitors. This gourmet market, made to measure for lovers of fine food, is currently considered to be Madrid’s principle culinary temple and the reference point among all European gastronomic venues. The food market at San Miguel Plaza in the heart of the historic centre of Madrid is one of the city’s major attractions and is a designated heritage-protected building in Spain. Its focus is on constant improvement of aspects such as quality, cleanliness, price points, ingredients and customer experience of the food, drink, desserts, coffee and takeaway offering.
The Ministers meeting further reviewed the positive trajectory of Kenya–Spain trade relations. Since 2019, Kenya’s exports to Spain have increased by 39.1%, while imports from Spain rose by 30.9%. Spain is currently Kenya’s sixth-largest export destination within the EU and seventh-largest source of imports.
Kenya’s primary exports to Spain include tea, cut flowers, fruits, vegetables, leather, and textiles, while imports from Spain feature machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and vehicles. Spanish companies are also actively exploring investments in renewable energy, water infrastructure.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established as early as 1965 and relations have since grown to include extensive trade and investment cooperation, especially in sectors like tourism, agriculture, water management and renewable energy. The Spanish Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, was opened in 1967 while Kenya opened its Mission in 2007. Prior to the opening of the Embassy, Spain was covered by the Embassy of Kenya in France. The Mission is accredited to the Kingdom of Spain, the Principality of Andorra and the UN Tourism.
Dr. Mudavadi acknowledged Spain’s enduring support for the Kenya Foreign Service Academy, especially in facilitating Spanish language training for diplomats, thereby promoting cultural exchange and linguistic competence within the foreign service. Building on this foundation, the two countries continue to explore the potential expansion of Spanish language education in Kenyan schools through collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
“Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and a gateway to broader international engagement. Incorporating Spanish into our education system is a strategic step toward preparing our youth for global opportunities,” Dr. Mudavadi emphasized.
Earlier, Minister Martínez Belío and his delegation held political consultations meeting with the Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Korir Sing’Oei, who emphasized Kenya’s commitment to deepening cooperation with Spain across various areas, including ICT, health, agriculture, peace and security, climate change, and multilateral engagement. During their discussions, PS Sing’Oei highlighted the potential for Kenya’s youthful, skilled workforce accessing job opportunities in Spain, particularly in agribusiness, digital services, and the creative economy. The consultations also focused on facilitating labour and student migration; cooperating in tourism; fostering cultural exchanges in sports and Spanish language; promoting peace and security while working together on climate governance and reform of global architectures to achieve equitable ends.
Present during the political consultative meeting included Spanish ambassador to Kenya Amb. Christina Diaz and Kenya’s ambassador to Spain Amb. Nerimas ole Sein as well as Director for European Affairs at the Ministry headquarters Ms. Judy Njau.
As Kenya positions itself as a regional economic powerhouse, strategic partnerships with nations such as Spain remain vital to advancing shared prosperity. The reaffirmed cooperation reflects both countries’ commitment to inclusive growth, mutual respect, and multilateral cooperation.
The visit by Minister Martínez Belío and his delegation to Kenya builds on the official visit by Dr. Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, to Kenya in October 2022, during which both nations signed a Joint Declaration reaffirming their strong and productive relations anchored in a shared commitment to multilateralism and a rules-based international order.