Sebastian Kurz who was in Rwanda for a one-day official visit is also the President of the European Union. He arrived in Rwanda on Thursday for his first official visit.
The visit came after new Austria’s Ambassador to Rwanda, Dr. Christian Fellner presented his credentials to Kagame on Wednesday.
In a joint press conference with Sebastian Kurz, President Kagame said Rwanda enjoys a strong and productive relationship with the European Union, which “we are happy to continue to build on.”
“Europe and Africa are neighbors, and we share several priorities including trade, security, migration, and the environment. These are all related to another common preoccupation, and that is maximizing opportunities for the young people of our respective continents” Kagame said.
Kagame explained that “the upcoming Africa-Europe High-Level Forum is an opportunity to build practical collaboration on several fronts, and we look forward to co-hosting this event in Vienna,”
“Rwanda continues to mobilize African leaders to participate in this important forum, so that we can continue to seek ways to unlock the potential of the digital economy, as a pathway to inclusion and prosperity,” Kagame said.
He also said that in the forum, “We will also be discussing in a wider context all kinds of activities including investments and partnerships that can and continue to bring Africa and Europe together so that this can lead to positive developments on either side.”
{{Europe ‘incited’ Africans to migrate
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On migration, President Kagame who is the current Chairperson of the African Union said: “If you look at numbers of people leaving our continent going to Europe, we have to ask ourselves how can this be managed properly. The how is there, we should have done this long ago but it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
“The partnership with Europe and Africa should have invested properly, created an environment to retain our young people and guarantee them that staying in your continent or country is better for you and you can find safety, security and jobs,” he said.
“If you look at the history of this migration, for a long time, let me use words you would not like, Europe was inciting, inviting people to go to Europe. The message was your countries of Africa are governed badly and you should come to us. The impression created was if you have a problem in your country, whether it’s false or true, just come to our paradise. And people came. To the point where people can’t have migrants anymore,” sadly Kagame said.
Kagame asked what can be done so that people feel happy about living in their country to which he answered as: “We can still have a conversation between Africa and Europe.”
“The kind of investment you spend on people who have come there is so huge that if you invested in Africa, we could create industries. The problem is not Europe; we have our own fair share of the blame we have to take,” Kagame said facing Sebastian Kurz.
“The way people are addressing it is through firefighting and sometimes it doesn’t put out the fire, it inflames it. We all need to sober up and find solutions even if they are complicated. We can’t find an easy solution to a difficult problem,” Kagame advised.
Kurz congratulates Kagame on Africa free trade area agreements signing and Rwanda’s impressive economic growth
In his remarks, the Federal Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz congratulated Kagame and leaders responsible for the impressive growth Rwanda saw in the last years, the fact that Rwanda ranks second in easing business and the free trade area agreements signed during Kagame’s term as the Chairperson of the African Union.
“During the last years, in Rwanda, you had the economic growth of nearly 10 percent and now it is 7 percent. It is extremely high economic growth and it is also impressive.” Kurz said.
“The World Bank index says that Rwanda is among the best places to do business in the world. I think many reforms which have been done going in the right direction, have resulted in the positive economic development which has taken place here in Rwanda.” Sebastian Kurz added.
“I would also like to thank you for your leadership in the African Union by establishing the free trade area for the whole continent. This is a very good development for Africa as a whole and economic development in Africa.” He said.
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