{"id":38741,"date":"2019-01-08T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/president-kagame-in-japan-witnesses-signing-of\/"},"modified":"2019-01-09T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T10:59:20","slug":"president-kagame-in-japan-witnesses-signing-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/president-kagame-in-japan-witnesses-signing-of\/","title":{"rendered":"President Kagame in Japan, witnesses signing of agreement on Nzove-Ntora Water project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the first day of their visit, President Kagame and First Lady paid a courtesy call to their Majesties Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan at Imperial Palace, the First Lady was later hosted to a working lunch by Mrs Akie Abe, wife to Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.<\/p>\n<p>President Kagame later had bilateral talks with Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are pleased to be here, to honour the excellent relationship that exists between Rwanda and Japan, and to deepen our friendship and cooperation,\u201d Kagame said adding that \u201cRwanda very much appreciates the ongoing development cooperation with Japan. We have productive partnerships in many areas, including in agriculture, ICT, and infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish to thank you for Japan\u2019s support to the Kigali Urban Transport Improvement Plan. As Rwanda\u2019s population grows and becomes more urbanized, we are keen to learn from Japan\u2019s longstanding expertise and experience in city planning and urban transport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The President of Rwanda commended Japan for its contribution to Rwanda\u2019s human capacity development, through the Africa Business Education Initiative, \u201cwhich is benefiting young Rwandans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you may know, the African Union has been undergoing institutional reforms for the last two years. We have achieved good progress in making AU more fit for purpose, and enhancing the continent\u2019s engagement with the rest of the world, including with Japan,\u201d Kagame who is the current Chairperson of the African Union said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that \u201cThe African Union will continue to work with Japan and other global partners, in the reforms of the UN Security Council, to make it more relevant to today&#8217;s realities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kagame invited Japan\u2019s Prime Minister to Rwanda at any time of his inconvenience as \u201cRwanda remains committed to strengthening cooperation with Japan, in the bilateral as well as international arena, for the benefit of both our countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following their bilateral discussions, President Kagame and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan witnessed the signing of a bilateral agreement on Nzove-Ntora Water Transmission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur visit is an opportunity to learn more from each other, and further strengthen our strong bilateral ties, development cooperation as well. We also want to increase trade and investment between Rwanda and Japan,\u201d Kagame said adding: \u201cWe look forward to the business forum taking place tomorrow, and the roadshow to introduce Kigali Innovation City, one of Rwanda\u2019s flagship projects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before meeting Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Abe, Kagame had also met with the President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Shinichi Kitaoka and Kobe City Mayor, Kiz\u014d Hisamoto.<\/p>\n<p>According to RDB figures as of July last year , the number of Japanese investments in Rwanda totaled to $21.458 million \u2013 creating 178 jobs in agro-processing, horticulture, mining, ICT and service sectors.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-27969 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/kagame_majesties_emperor_and_empress_ashito.jpg\" alt=\"President Kagame paid courtesy to their Majesties, Emperor of Japan Akihito and Empress Michiko\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-27971 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/kagame_talking_to_emperor.jpg\" alt=\"President talkimg with Japan&#039;s Emperor Akihito\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-27968 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/jeannette_kagame_with_empress_michiko.jpg\" alt=\"First Lady Jeannette Kagame talking with Empress Michiko\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-27970 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/their_majesties_waving_good_bye_to_kagame_and_first_lady_kagame.jpg\" alt=\"Their Majesties, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko waving good bye to Kagame and First Lady\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame are in japan for a two-day official visit marking his first visit abroad in the year 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[69],"byline":[180],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-38741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-homehighlights","byline-samson-iradukunda"],"bylines":[{"id":180,"name":"Samson Iradukunda","slug":"samson-iradukunda","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":24}],"contributors":[{"id":180,"name":"Samson Iradukunda","slug":"samson-iradukunda","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":24}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38741"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=38741"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=38741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}