VILLAGE URUGWIRO - President Paul Kagame is optimistic that the chances of Rwanda being admitted to the Commonwealth club next year were high.

He disclosed this yesterday at Village Urugwiro while responding to a question from a journalist regarding Rwanda’s chances of being admitted to the community which brings together English speaking countries, mostly former British colonies.

"The process has made a huge step towards realizing our membership request…it will be sorted out next year and we are optimistic because everything has been put in order to get our application through,” Kagame said.

Rwanda’s accession to the Commonwealth is expected to feature on the agenda of next year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Trinidad and Tobago.

He revealed this briefly after meeting a delegation of visiting members of the British Conservative Party who are in the country to boost the activities of Umubano Project through which they assist Rwandans in different social activities.

Kagame acknowledged the support of the British government to Rwanda in her pursuit of joining the Commonwealth saying, "Britain has been supportive and I can not ask them any more in this regard.”

He said that the major reason Rwanda has vied to join this club is because, being a member of the East African Community, most of the member states are English speaking.

"We also have many Rwandans who speak the English language and being a member of this bigger family will come with benefits in terms of business through an enlarged market among others,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said that the activities of Umubano Projects have helped in promoting the social welfare of the Rwandan population.

"This project that was initiated by the leaders of the Conservative Party is mainly engaged in social interventions like health, education and infrastructural development,” the President said.

This year, over 100 Conservative Party members who are led by Andrew Mitchell, the shadow Secretary of State for International Development, came to Rwanda.

The President said that this project is promising; attributing it to the fact that the number of party members who come to the country has been increasing.

Umubano Project was launched following last year’s similar delegation that came to Rwanda which was led by Party leader David Cameron.

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