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· The development bank of France, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Rwanda 2020 signed two financing agreements worth €49.5 million.
· The signing marks an important step towards improving bilateral relations between the two countries.
The development bank of France, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Rwanda 2020 signed two financing agreements worth €49.5 million (Rwf54 billion) on June 30th. The deal will support Rwanda’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The signing marks an important step towards improving bilateral relations between the two countries after relations came under strain. There has been hardly any exchange of visits during the past more than two decades.
The agreements were signed by Uzziel Ndagijimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and economic planning and Jeremie Blin, Chargé d’affaires of France to Rwanda in Kigali. Minister Ndagijimana hoped that the signing will be the “beginning of a much stronger collaboration to come between both countries.”
The first agreement includes a €40 million concessional budget loan aimed at supporting Rwanda’s efforts to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. The funds will be spent will on improving prevention measures against COVID-19, upgrading diagnostic capacities and treatment of patients such as setting up more treatment referral points.
Mr.Blin said that more than 620,000 Rwandans who are most affected will benefit from the programme. Some of the initiatives include cash or providing jobs to vulnerable households, access to nutrition programs to pregnant women, and providing health insurance for more than 1.9 million people. Another grant of €2 million was also pledged by AFD to the Rwanda Red Cross Society and Rwandan Authorities to support households hit by the pandemic.
The second agreement, a € 5.8 million grant will go for boosting Rwanda’s efforts to develop its vocational training system in order to drive youth employment through Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centers (IPRCs). Another €1.7 million will go to a French Operator Expertise France to provide technical assistance to Rwanda Polytechnic.
The finance minister also revealed that Rwanda and France have some more joint proposals in the pipeline in energy, education and digital technology.
