Visiting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was this morning accorded an elaborate state reception rounded off by a 19-gun salute at the state house, Nairobi.
Netanyahu who is on a three-day State visit began by laying a wreath at the mausoleum of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
He then arrived at state house, shortly before 11.00am, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Sara Netanyahu where he was welcomed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The national anthems of Kenya and Israel were played, followed by the Kenya Defence Forces firing 19 cannon shots, in a traditional ceremony reserved for Heads of State and government.
The Israel Prime Minister then inspected a guard of honour mounted by a detachment of the Kenya Airforce.
Other dignitaries who greeted the Prime Minister of Israel on his arrival at State House were the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta; several Cabinet Secretaries and the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, Gen Samson Mwathethe, among others.
Thereafter, the Israeli leader signed the visitors’ book, after which President Kenyatta invited him into his office for one-on-one talks.
The two leaders will later lead their delegations in bilateral talks, the main meetings of this first visit by an incumbent Israeli Prime Minister to Kenya.
Later in the afternoon the Israel Prime Minister and President Kenyatta are scheduled to address a Kenya-Israel business forum.