President Kagame received his Czech Republic Counterpart Pavel at Urugwiro Village on Saturday. Photos/Urugwiro Village.
President Paul Kagame on Saturday received President Petr Pavel of the Czech Republic, with whom he held a bilateral meeting with their respective delegations to discuss ways of deepening existing ties for the benefit of the people of the two countries, which share a common history of a difficult past.
The two Heads of State discussed the next steps furthering existing bilateral cooperation between their respective countries, in areas of mutual interest including defence and security, health, trade and investment and technology.
President Pavel is in Rwanda for a three-day state visit and is expected to join activities to commemorate 30 years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. During a press conference by the two leaders, President Kagame said that the Czech Republic was among the first countries to alert the International Community that what was happening in Rwanda in 1994 was a Genocide -something he said Rwanda will forever be grateful for.
“The Czech Republic played a prominent role in calling for action to stop the Genocide. We will always be grateful to Ambassador Karel Kovanda and to the Czech Republic. This spirit of solidarity and of speaking up against injustice, creates lasting bonds of friendship and respect,” President Kagame said.
The two leaders had productive discussions.
“The President and I had a very productive discussion. We value our close collaboration in the areas of defense and security and many other areas . Together we want to strengthen our corporation in the health sector.. It complements Rwanda’s efforts to invest in health infrastructure and our medical workforce,” he added.
He pointed out that Rwanda is looking forward to welcoming Czech entrepreneurs to come to Rwanda and start businesses, adding that the country’s strategy is to establish an enabling policy and regulatory environment for that to happen.
The Head of State said that last year Rwanda opened her embassy in Prague, a development he said will bring the two countries even closer for the benefit of the populations of the two countries.
On his part, President Pavel hailed the progress Rwanda has made over the past 30 years, pointing out that his country is honoured to be invited to the 30th commemoration, which will be an opportunity to echo the message that what happened in Rwanda should never happen again.
“We also take this opportunity to extend our partnership with Rwanda, which already has a very solid foundation in the area of medical support, in the area of wildlife protection and defence, among other areas,” he said, adding that the most important thing is that there is goodwill on both ends.
He pointed out that wherever there is goodwill, concrete results soon show and the two countries are looking to build on that close partnership to open other chapters of cooperation, beyond the existing ones to do even more, adding that President Kagame has proved to be a reliable partner to work with.
