•Uhuru was speaking virtually during the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
•He said the pandemic’s devastating impact on global travel, tourism, supply chains and investment has caused the deepest economic recession in nearly a century.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has once again asked the world to put equitable global vaccine access at the core of “Building Back Better” from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Uhuru was speaking virtually during the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
He said the pandemic’s devastating impact on global travel, tourism, supply chains and investment has caused the deepest economic recession in nearly a century.
Last week, close to 5000 Kenyans had succumbed to Covid-19.
"Now is the time to rebuild;To rebuild successfully requires a worldwide response in confidence and investment to enable production and consumption to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels," he said.
Uhuru said building that confidence is by making vaccines available to the world, in an equitable and accessible manner.
"That, sadly, is currently not the case. The asymmetry in the supply of vaccines reflects a multilateral system that is in urgent need for repair," he said.
"At the heart of the global effort to “Building Back Better”, we must make concerted, structural changes that should enable a quantum increase in investment and technology transfers. Not as charity, but instead driven by enlightened self-interest and solidarity."
SECURITY
Uhuru said the world must align conflict resolution tools to the strategic shift in threats to regional and international peace and security.
"A fast-developing Africa will offer the entire world the benefit of its demographic dividend of youth and vast investment opportunities," he said.
"Africa can become an engine of sustainable global growth and an exporter of peace and stability and transformative prosperity."
Uhuru they should be able to strengthen the competence of states to manage diversity and regional trust between citizens and institutions, and between citizens and their leaders.
"A “Green Building Back Better” that delivers jobs and shared prosperity, will win the support of the young generation and intensify the drive towards climate change action," he said.
The president further said the issues of climate change should also be considered.
"The need to deliver concurrently economic recovery linked to climate change action. As COP-26 approaches, we should aim to make clear commitments that contribute to developing country investments in green manufacturing and the infrastructure it requires," he said.
Uhuru said is ready to become a leading green industry country.
"We have mounted a strong climate change response. We have submitted an updated National Determined Contribution (NDC) plan that aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 32% by 2030," he said.
Kenya also has a “Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (2016-2030).
"This will enable us to achieve higher economic growth and support a low-carbon development path," he said.