Italian President Sergio Mattarella was on Tuesday honoured with 21 gun salutes at State House, Nairobi.
Mattarella inspected the guard of honour for about seven minutes before finally meeting President William Ruto who was accompanied by First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto and DP Rigathi Gachagua.
Mattarella is in Kenya for talks aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two countries.
Mattarella arrived in the country Monday evening for a four-day official visit.
The talks between the two leaders are also centered on enhancing trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
“The visit will help promote the development of key sectors such as water, agriculture, and tourism in the country,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said in a statement.
It is during their bilateral engagement that several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) will be signed.
The relations between Italy and Kenya have continued to deepen over the years.
This is a result of the increase in the level of commercial exchanges and the growing interest of Italian enterprises with an eye on investing in the country.
Ruto recently committed to providing an Italian energy firm firm-Eni Spa up to 300,000 acres of land in some marginal areas in the country for production of biofuels.
This was after meeting its director general for natural resources, Guido Brusco at Statehouse.
The visit by Mattarella is his sixth to the African continent.
He has already been to Cameroon, Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique and Angola.
