The Government of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany have concluded development cooperation negotiations that will see the latter disburse €81 million (about Rwf75 billion).

The three-year intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) framework will see Germany continue to support key government priorities such as education (Technical and Vocational Education and Training), governance and decentralisation, private sector development, youth employment as well as financial sector development.

The agreement comes after a two-day dialogue on development cooperation between the two countries.

Both sides, according to Amb. Claver Gatete, the minister for finance and economic planning, agreed to maintain candid and active dialogue for attainment of mutually shared goals.

Speaking after the meeting, Minister Gatete said the inter-governmental negotiations provide the opportunity to jointly evaluate what has been achieved or not achieved in every sector concerned by the cooperation and to assess the concrete results of all projects.

"The cooperation of our two countries is slowly enabling Rwandans to build their capacities to meet daily challenges in improving their livelihoods. The commitment that we agree today for the next three years will be a means for further progress relating to the priority areas and targets as enshrined in our development agenda,” Gatete said.  

Andreas Gies, the director-general of development cooperation at the German ministry of economic cooperation and development, reaffirmed Germany’s commitment to continue supporting Rwanda’s economic agenda to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.

We will continue  mobilising  the private  sector to  come and invest in Africa particularly Rwanda  so as to create employment opportunities  for the young generation,” he  said.

Gies added that the objective is to invest in people, infrastructure, education and capacity building so that Rwanda can attain sustainable development.

Every three years, the two countries hold intergovernmental negotiations to fix the modalities of a new development programme. The current intergovernmental negotiations for the period of 2015-2017 took place in Kigali in November 2014 where Germany committed € 69.5 million.

Bilateral cooperation between Rwanda and Germany began in the year 1963. Since then, GIZ and KFW, the implementing agencies, on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany have worked with local and international partners to reduce poverty, improve health care and governance and maintain sustainable economic development.

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