Nairobi becomes host to first-ever regional office of the International Trade Centre

(Nairobi) – The International Trade Centre (ITC) marked a milestone in its history with the opening of its first-ever regional office outside of Geneva, which will be based in the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON).

The moment was marked by the His Excellency, William Samoei Ruto, President of Kenya, who declared the official opening of ITC’s new regional office for East Africa.

‘We celebrate the establishment of this regional hub of ITC,’ said President Ruto, at the official opening day of the East African Community (EAC) Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Trade Fair, where he was joined by other high-level officials and members of the international diplomatic community.

‘This milestone is not for Kenya alone – it belongs to East Africa,’ President Ruto said about the work ITC will do in the region, through the new office.

‘It will bring global markets within our reach and to our producers,’ he added.

Earlier in the day, at a ceremony inside the UN compound in Nairobi, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton was joined by UNON Director-General Zainab Bangura and the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Stephen Jackson, to visit the new office space, meet the team and to mark the moment with a ribbon cutting.

According to ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton: ‘This is a major milestone in our history, as we work to develop even more meaningful relationships within the countries and regions where we work—as they have encouraged us to do—that fully speak to our present moment.’

She added: ‘When we were deciding where to launch our first corporate office outside our headquarters, it quickly became clear that Kenya—where we already have an extensive footprint and deep relationships at the national and regional levels—was the right choice.’

Building on EAC SME Ministerial momentum

On Monday, ITC organized with the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSME Development of Kenya, the first regional roundtable to follow the Global SME Ministerial Meeting in Johannesburg in July, which produced a call to action endorsed by 60+ countries that provided agreement to continue working as a group over the next two years, sharing information and strengthening the political importance of SME development.

The roundtable included members of the private sector, such as Absa Bank, and country representatives from Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, and also high-level representatives from over 15 countries, including Barbados, Belgium, France, India, Indonesia, Cuba, Norway and the United Kingdom. The World Bank also joined from the multilateral sector, as well as the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kenya, on behalf of the entire UN structure.

The result was a communique signed by ITC, the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSME Development of Kenya, and the EAC Secretariat, which was read out to President Ruto by the Hon. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSME Development of Kenya.

‘This roundtable marks a significant regional milestone in our collective efforts to support the international competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), recognizing their central role in transforming trade and improving livelihoods in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),’ Cabinet Secretary Oparanya said.

The communique will be presented at the EAC Heads of State Summit at the end of November and will be presented by the Government of Kenya to be included in the chair’s statement, which is a step forward into the political significance of the Global SME Ministerial process.

Last month, the chair’s statement of the G20 Trade and Investment Working group included a reference to the importance of the Global SME Ministerial call to action.