Five of the envoys that presented their credentials to President Kagame yesterday are resident in Nairobi-Kenya; two in Kampala –Uganda, four in Kigali and one is in Dar es Salam, Tanzania.
Speaking to media after handing in their credentials, the envoys committed to work to improve the relations between the countries they represent and Rwanda, with specific emphasis on boosting trade and investment.
“We have been partners with Rwanda over the past 25 years. We have seen our relations develop from the very start from 1994 where our engagements were mostly humanitarian assistance,” said Matthijs Clemens Wolters, the new Dutch envoy.
“We are shifting from aid to trade and we will be investing our time in convincing Netherlands investors to come to Rwanda,” he added.
Thomas Kurz, the new German envoy said his country is also looking to invest more in Rwanda.
Ambassador Charity Manyeruke of Zimbabwe highlighted specific sectors of engagement: “We have very excellent relations with Rwanda and now we are hoping to deepen especially our economic relations and in sectors including agriculture, education, mining, ICT, politics, and governance,” she said.
The appointment of the Qatari ambassador Abdulla Mohd Al- Sayed comes a few months following the three-day state visit of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.
The visit which took place in April ended with the signing of four bilateral agreements in the areas of culture, sports, cooperation in the field of tourism and business events.
Other countries whose envoys presented credentials yesterday are; Ireland, Hungary, Malaysia, Philippines, South Sudan, Spain, Botswana and Serbia with residence in the East African region.
Francisca Pedrós Carretero the Spanish ambassador to Rwanda said she had a frank conversation with President Kagame about working to improve the relations of both countries bilaterally and in multilateral forums.
Dragan Zupanjevac the Serbian envoy to Rwanda expressed the willingness for both countries to cooperate in business.
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