The commitment was made on Thursday, October 9, in Brussels, Belgium, following bilateral talks between President Paul Kagame and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the Global Gateway Forum 2025.
President Kagame and von der Leyen were also joined by Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin to unveil the new funding package, which will support the next phase of vaccine production and innovation.
The EU’s Global Gateway strategy aims to build sustainable partnerships through investments in digital, energy, transport, and health infrastructure.
The new funding builds on earlier EU support of over €93 million towards BioNTech’s Kigali facility, which was inaugurated in 2023 as the company’s first mRNA manufacturing site in Africa.
The project has been hailed as a major step towards ensuring equitable access to vaccines and strengthening Africa’s capacity to respond to future health emergencies.
With the additional €95 million support, Rwanda is poised to scale up vaccine manufacturing and accelerate progress towards its goal of becoming a regional centre for pharmaceutical research, production, and distribution.
{{Support for peace efforts in the Great Lakes region
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Meanwhile, following her meeting with President Kagame, von der Leyen took to X to welcome the Washington-brokered pact between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), aimed at easing tensions in the eastern region of the DRC.
She noted that the deal, facilitated by U.S. President Donald Trump, represents an important step towards lasting stability, adding that the EU stands ready to support the peace process “because it will pave the way for regional integration and investment.”
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