President William Ruto has announced the establishment of new flight routes between Nairobi and Astana, set to facilitate commerce and promote greater people-to-people engagements between the two nations.

Ruto announced the strategic partnership on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, following the Kazakhstan-Kenya Business Forum at the Astana International Financial Centre.

While highlighting the details of the partnership between the two nations, Ruto vowed to deepen trade and expand economic opportunities between Kenya and Kazakhstan.

“We are committed to deepening trade and expanding economic opportunities between Kenya and Kazakhstan for the shared prosperity of our two nations,” Ruto said.

“To advance this partnership, we shall pursue the establishment of direct flights between Nairobi and Astana to facilitate commerce and promote greater people-to-people engagements.”

At the same time, in a bid to maximise the full capacity of the partnership between both countries, Ruto has also invited Kazakhstan to make full use of the Mombasa and Lamu ports as key gateways for entry and trans-shipment into the East and Central African region.

“We further invite Kazakhstan to take full advantage of the strategic position and capacity of the ports of Mombasa and Lamu as key gateways for entry and trans-shipment into the East and Central African region,” Ruto said.

“Addressed the Kazakhstan-Kenya Business Forum at the Astana International Financial Centre alongside President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. We advocated stronger business and investment ties between our countries.”

Kazakhstan

The new flight routes from Nairobi to Astana are set to unlock economic expansion between Kenya and Kazakhstan a Country with the largest economy in Central Asia, with a GDP exceeding $286 billion.

A recent report by the World Bank noted that after expanding by 5.0% in 2024, Kazakhstan’s economy recorded robust growth of 6.5% in 2025, driven by strong domestic demand and a one-off increase in oil output.

Also, retail trade grew 7.5%, sustained largely by household borrowing, while the mining sector emerged as the main engine of growth following a 13.5% increase in oil production from the expansion of the Tengiz oilfield. Manufacturing and services expanded by 6.4% and 5.5%, respectively.