President Paul Kagame on Monday, November 14, met with Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, at the sidelines of the upcoming G20 summit, for discussions around ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. Both leaders are in Indonesia, where the 2-day annual meeting kicks off Tuesday, November 15. President Kagame and Premier Kishida discussed existing bilateral cooperation including in sectors of climate change mitigation, infrastructure development and public-private investments, according to Village Urugwiro. Speaking to The New Times in an exclusive interview, Stephanie Nyombayire, Presidential Press Secretary, explained that Rwanda and Japan have for the past 60 years enjoyed “good” bilateral relations. Nyombayire highlighted that, just recently, at this year’s Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Japan committed to working with various countries on climate change mitigation including Rwanda. “One of the projects they are doing in Rwanda is clean water supply provision and they are making a 3 billion (Japanese) yen investment to Rwanda for improving water supply,” she said. During the conference, Japan also committed to $30 billion of investment in Africa by 2025. “The other areas of discussions include the discussion in the global food supply chain,and Japan also made a commitment of $300 million through AfDB to address global food security.” Nyombayire said that Kagame commended the support of Japan in various fields, including but not limited to, human resource development, and cooperation with the Rwanda Space Agency (RSA). “They agreed to continue working closely together, to advance the benefits of the people of Japan and Rwanda,” Nyombayire said. She highlighted that Kagame expressed his condolences for the untimely passing of former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. The head of state also went on to invite Premier Kishida to visit Rwanda, Nyombayire pointed out.
