Kagame, Malu Dreyer Discuss 40-yr Old Partnership

By George Kalisa

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Malu Dreyer, the Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate today discussed the 40 year old partnership with Rwanda at the State Chancellery. The partnership which Rwanda has described as fruitful involves key sectors including education, health and economic cooperation.

 “Earlier today, President Kagame met with Malu Dreyer, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate at the State Chancellery to discuss the fruitful 40 year partnership with Rwanda in various sectors including education, health and economic cooperation,” said a statement from Urugwiro Village today.

In October 2018 Malu Dreyer visited Rwanda accompanied by a 35-member delegation including some officials from the German state. During the visit she reiterated the readiness of her state government to raise the support to Rwanda in education, health and economic activities. The delegation was on a mission to identify other potential areas to which they would expand cooperation.

Rwanda had hosted an international conference on social networks and agricultural technology, courtesy of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

The delegation met with President Paul Kagame and government officials as well as  visiting projects the Rhineland-Palatinate state supports in the East African Community (EAC) mostly in the countryside.

Minister President Dreyer noted that the bilateral ties between Rwanda and her government would be consolidated and extended to new areas.

“We want to develop our partnership further to look into the future and bring in new projects (…), we are also interested in helping with knowledge transfer in the industry,” Dreyer told local media.

The State’s Finance Minister, Doris Ahnen who was part of the delegation expressed the state’s growing appetite to improve the livelihoods of Rwandans by increasing investment in key sectors such as education.

“First, the quality of living conditions in urban and rural areas is very important to us and for that reason we also attach importance to the provision of good conditions of living,” said Ahnen said.

The 40 year old Rwanda-Rhineland Palatinate cooperation has reshaped the face of education, health, and infrastructure development. The other areas include capacity building, and promotion and exchange of culture and sports.