President Paul Kagame on Sunday joined world leaders to congratulate the United States President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, and his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Biden was declared US president-elect after securing the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency, ending Donald Trump’s four-year presidency in the White House. “President Kagame and the Government of Rwanda congratulate U.S. President-elect @JoeBiden and Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris,” the President’s Office said in a tweet on Sunday. Kagame emphasized the close relationship between Rwanda and the US, saying the country was looking “forward to building on the strong partnership between our countries.” The two countries share common ties in military, health, and education, among other areas. Despite America struggling to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, the country continued to extend support towards Rwanda’s response to the outbreak. Rwanda received funds worth $4 million this year from the US government as part of the country’s efforts to respond to the outbreak. In total, funds worth more than $1.5 billion have been invested in public health in Rwanda in the past 20 years, according to the U.S embassy in Rwanda. In April, Kagame said he had a “good” conversation with President Trump which focused on fighting Covid-19. But a Trump presidency saw Rwanda lose its rights to trade under African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a scheme under which African countries trade with the US duty-free especially for textile products. Trump suspended Rwanda from trading under the scheme as a result of a move by East African countries to raise tariffs on used clothes to promote the local textile industry.
