Kagame holds talks with his counterpart of Turkey

Kagame is among Heads of State and Government from across Africa who attended the summit scheduled on 17th and 18th December 2021.

As he held talks with his counterpart, Kagame was accompanied by officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Vincent Biruta.

The bilateral meeting held ahead of the 3rd Africa-Turkey Partnership Summit, revolved around strengthening cooperation between Rwanda and Turkey.

Rwanda and Turkey have been enjoying friendly relations. Turkish Embassy in Kigali started its functions in December 2014 while Rwanda’s Embassy in Ankara was opened in August 2013.

In September 2021, Minister Biruta visited Turkey where he met with his counterpart, and signed memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the areas of sports, education and industry.

At the time, Dr. Biruta interacted with Turkish businesspeople and commended the country’s contribution to Rwanda’s response to COVID-19.

In 2019, both countries’ bilateral trade volume stood at US$32.4 million and US$81 million in 2021.

Through Türkiye Scholarships Programme, 35 students from Rwanda received opportunities to pursue studies in Turkey in 2019/2020.

So far, 182 Rwandan students have been granted scholarship to study in Turkey since 1992.

Both countries also enjoy cooperation in the areas of security. In 2020, Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Turkey National Police (TNP) agreed to strengthen cooperation in varied policing disciplines especially in areas of capacity building.

The two Police institutions renewed the commitment when Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Munyuza visited Turkey at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Dr. Mehmet Aktas to enhance the existing cooperation between the two police forces.

In 2015, the Governments of Rwanda and Turkey signed security agreements to reinforce the existing bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Also signed in the same event held in Ankara, was a memorandum of understanding between Police institutions of the two countries to cooperate in areas of training, focusing on counter terrorism, cybercrimes, Special Forces training and Training of Trainers (ToT) courses, among others.