Rajkot (Gujarat), Jan 11 (IANS) More Gujaratis are coming to Rwanda because “they can benefit from our conducive investment environment with both fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to national as well as foreign investors and zero tolerance for corruption”, Rwanda’s Ambassador to India, Jacqueline Mukangira, said on Sunday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference here, the East African country’s envoy said: “Rwanda and India enjoy excellent bilateral relations, and many Indians are doing business in Rwanda, with a significant number from Gujarat. In fact, India is the second-largest foreign investor in Rwanda and also its second-largest trading partner.”

She further stated that Rwanda imports pharmaceuticals, ICT machinery and equipment, and goods such as rice, textiles, and sugar — “much of which can be sourced from Gujarat”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a state visit to Rwanda in 2018, at the invitation of the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame. This was the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda. This was also the fifth high-level interaction between India and Rwanda in one and a half years, including two visits by the Rwandan President to India, a visit by the Indian Vice President to Rwanda, and a recent visit by the President of the Rwandan Senate to India.

On his trip, PM Modi was accompanied by a high-level delegation of senior government officials as well as a large number of business leaders. He held one-on-one talks with President Kagame and chaired the bilateral delegation-level talks. Eight preliminary agreements were signed during the visit, covering areas of trade, defence, dairy-cooperation, agriculture, culture, leather and allied sector, as well as a line of credit of $200 million for the special economic zone and irrigation.

Rwanda has effectively employed $400 million worth of lines of credit from India. Beyond financial aid, PM Modi’s visit brought aid in kind to Rwanda that was aimed at boosting capacity in education, skill development, renewable energy, healthcare, tourism, agriculture and animal resources, defence, and science and technology.

As a measure to support President Kagame’s ‘Girinka programme’, a social protection scheme of ‘one cow-one family’ to uplift the national economy, PM Modi gifted two hundred cows.

The leadership of the two countries was also in touch with each other on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic

–IANS

sps/vd