EU envoy to Rwanda Michael Ryan and Rwanda’s Finance Minister Claver Gatete signing
Rwanda is getting closer to achieving its energy accessibility target of 70% by 2018.
The European Union and government of Rwanda have this Tuesday signed a financing agreement worth €177 million (Frw157 Billion) to support the energy sector in the next five years.
The funds will enable Rwanda improve electricity supply, transmission and distribution. This funding will also be used in management of the energy sector and raising citizens accessibility to energy in all its forms: electricity, solar, biomass.
Energy is one of the top priorities for Rwanda.
“Access to modern energy for a major part of the Rwandan population and development of its productive activities is a prerequisite for achievement of its main development goal of becoming middle income country by 2020,” Claver Gatete, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said.
After signing, the EU envoy to Rwanda Michael Ryan said that the €177 million energy grant will help improve access to energy, particularly for those in rural areas.
In 2014, while in New York, President Paul Kagame signed a memorandum on EU’s commitment to the global “sustainable energy for all’ program.
This Energy grant is part of a larger €460 million the EU agreed to provide to Rwanda in 2015 in form of budget support.
EU assistance focuses on areas government has requested including; energy, agriculture, and governance.
“Our relationship with Rwanda is mature, close, enduring, based on mutual respect. The EU’s commitment to Rwanda’s long term prosperity and stability is unshakeable,” Ambassador Ryan said.
Rwanda is also expanding its energy generation capacity targeting to increase it to at least 563MW by 2018 from the current 186MW.
