Rwanda and Jordan will soon waive visa requirements for ordinary passports to accelerate bilateral cooperation between both countries, foreign ministers have said.
Dr Vincent Biruta, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on February 22, received Ayman Safadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Kingdom of Jordan, who is on a three-day working visit.
ALSO READ: Jordan Deputy PM pays tribute to victims of Genocide against the Tutsi
Following discussions in different existing and prospective areas of cooperation, the two ministers signed three Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of political consultations, education, and visa wavering on diplomatic and service passports.
Biruta revealed that the additional MoU between the Ministry of Education and King’s Academy in Jordan will allow academic exchange in research centres as well as support training in literature.
Political consultations will facilitate both countries to have continued discussions in areas of mutual interests and framework for further cooperation, he said, adding that there are pending agreements in justice, trade and investment, finance, agriculture, and health.
ALSO READ: Kagame, King Abdullah of Jordan meet
Safadi said, "We are both supportive of waiving visas for regular passports as well which will contribute to increasing two-way traffic in tourism, business, and education. We are going to be working on that very soon.”
We will also discuss the possibilities of having direct flights between Jordan and Rwanda because it is important to encourage business-to-business interactions, he added.
The development comes after President Paul Kagame’s visit to Jordan in March 2022, where he was hosted by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein for a bilateral meeting on discussions enhancing ongoing areas of cooperation between Jordan and Rwanda.
Both countries have existing cooperation in defence and security, especially in fighting terrorism through information and expertise sharing.
In 2015, King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan launched the Aqaba Process to comprehensively address interconnected counter-terrorism and violent extremist threats through informal discussions around three key themes including; prevention, coordination, and ‘filling in the gaps.’