Amb. Rania Mahmoud EL Banna, of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Three new ambassadors on Friday afternoon, presented their credentials to President Paul Kagame and committed to enhance bilateral relations between their respective countries with Rwanda.
They include Ambassador Bert Versmessen of the Kingdom of Belgium, Amb. Rania Mahmoud EL Banna, of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Amb. Misfer bin Faisal Mubarak Al-Ajab AL-Shahwani of the State of Qatar.
The three ambassadors held brief meetings with President Kagame at Village Urugwiro and later briefed local media on their plans in the country.
“I was so privileged and honored to meet president Kagame, the discussion was very fruitful. I presented my credentials as the ambassador, and we discussed the bilateral relations between the countries. Our president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, really values the wisdom of President Kagame and the beautiful transformation, development, peace and prosperity he has done for the Rwandan people,” Amb. Banna said.
“We have excellent political relations, but we need to focus more on the economy and trade, there are several fields of cooperation which we can explore and enhance. We also discussed the problems which are in Africa, as a big leader in Africa, Kagame can intervene to solve them.”
She said that during her time in office she expects more presidential visits to both countries which will increase the cooperation areas and development of both citizens.
Rwanda and Egypt have been cooperating in fields including Military, Agriculture, trade, health, among others.
Ambassador Bert Versmessen of the Kingdom of Belgium
Ambassador Bert Versmessen of the Kingdom of Belgium said that strengthening the bilateral relations with Rwanda is important because Rwanda is the entry point for Belgium in Africa, and Belgium can be the entry point for Rwanda in Europe.
“In the long term obviously, we should focus on development, trade, investment and economics. Move away from old partners to new partners. This morning, I attended a scorecard presentation, and you could see that there could be areas of cooperation, if so, required by Rwanda,” Amb. Versmessen said.
For many years now, Rwanda and Belgium have been cooperating in many developmental fields including investment, health, agriculture and sustainable urbanization.
Among the latest cooperation agreement Is one that was signed in April.
Worth 120 million Euros, the cooperation agreement covers the period 2019-2024 and intervene mainly in three sectors: Health (€45.000.000), Agriculture (€30.000.000) and urbanization (€28.000.000).
Qatar ambassador, Misfer bin Faisal Mubarak Al-Ajab AL-Shahwani
For the Qatar ambassador, Misfer bin Faisal Mubarak Al-Ajab AL-Shahwani, he committed to strengthening the existing excellent relations with Qatar and Rwanda.
The excellent relations between Rwanda and Qatar have been well known in the cooperation of national airlines, RwandAir and Qatar Airways and construction of airports.
For example, On Tuesday October 5, the national carrier RwandAir and Qatar Airways signed what was described as “a comprehensive codeshare agreement to offer travellers more choice, enhanced service, and greater connectivity to more than 65 destinations across Africa and the rest of the world.”
Also, Rwanda and Qatar are currently cooperating in the construction of phase one of Bugesera International Airport located in Bugesera district, Eastern province.
The course for completion of Bugesera International airport is in 2022. The $1.5 billion worth project will handle seven million passengers, while the second phase is expected to accommodate 14 million passengers.
