Five foreign envoys who yesterday presented their credentials to President Paul Kagame said their respective nations are hoping to strengthen relations with Rwanda.

William John Gelling, the new UK High Commissioner to Rwanda, who succeeds Benedict Llewellyn-Jones, said in the next three or four years, they would be looking to strengthen relations in commerce as each had exports the other would take interest in.

"One of the areas I will be concerned with is making sure we expand our relations in the area of commerce. As far as trade between the UK and Rwanda is concerned, my deputy and I will be spending as much time as we can to build the economic ties which are beneficial to both countries,” Gelling said.

Gelling said over the years, Rwanda has achieved remarkable progress, mostly economically, and there would be continued support to Rwanda, especially in the wake of the 20th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Anders Urban Andersson, the new Swedish ambassador to Rwanda who will be based in Kampala, Uganda, said his country was committed to remain Rwanda’s development partner and there were talks on how commercial and economic relations would be further deepened. 

"I mentioned to President Paul Kagame that we had a successful meeting a couple of weeks ago with the Swedish minister for finance Anders Borg. We discussed how Sweden and Rwanda can expand economic and commercial relations for the future. We want to see that our relationship grows, as that’s how you build countries in the long run,” Andersson said.

Regional issues

The Swedish ambassador, who was part of the humanitarian operation after the Genocide until 1995, commended the President and Rwandans in general for their contribution toward world peace and stability as the 6th largest troop contributor to the United Nations peace keeping operations. 

The new Serbian ambassador to Rwanda, Ivan Zivkovic, who will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, said he briefed the President on the undertakings of Eastern Europe that was currently experiencing tension due to the Ukrainian crisis. 

"We talked about bilateral issues, where the President stressed that both sides should invest additional efforts to further develop relations.  We also discussed regional issues and I also briefed him on what is going on in our region, especially the Ukrainian crisis which is still going on,” Zivkovic said.

He said although the future course of events in the Ukrainian crisis was unpredictable, he hoped that the situation would come to an end. 

Brazilian ambassador to Rwanda, Maria Marcela Nicodemos, said she hoped to build cooperation and relations between the two countries with agriculture being a key sector.

"There are many things we can do and we have already identified agriculture as one of the main sectors where both countries have a lot to share,” Nicodemos said.

"We also look forward to increase trade and high official bilateral visits whenever possible to continue the dialogue to identify new areas where we can cooperate.”

Bio-fuel

The envoy, who will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, added that, previously, they had also identified the development of the bio-fuel technology and the production of sugarcane though it had been halted for a while pending her accreditation. 

 Poland’s ambassador to Rwanda, Marek Ziolkowski, said they would strengthen economic ties of the two countries for development, adding that Poland would be involved in few development projects, with mining and agriculture top on the list.

Ziolkowski said there have already been discussions with Rwandan businesses that had expressed interest in doing business with their Polish counterparts. 

He added that Rwanda’s coffee and tea exports featured well in the Polish market, which would further develop business between the two countries.