President Paul Kagame and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye yesterday held talks focusing on fostering bilateral relations between the two countries.

The meeting at the South Korean leader’s residence in Seoul marked the end of Kagame’s two-day visit to the East Asian country.

By tapping into South Korea's transformation from a developing nation to among the top 20 economies in the world, the two presidents, in a closed-door session, discussed opportunities for collaboration based on similarities between both countries’ visions, according to a statement from the President's office.

"The two Presidents observed that Korea's history makes the nation a natural partner in Rwanda's journey of socio-economic transformation,” the statement said.

"A key similarity discussed was the commitment to self-reliance through homegrown initiatives, particularly Umuganda in Rwanda and Saemaul Udong (New Village Movement) in South Korea.”

Just like Umuganda, the latter was established in 1970 as a means to modernise rural areas through community participation in economic growth, and is widely credited for South Korea’s rural transformation.

President Park recognised Rwanda's achievements in the past two decades, including rebuilding a post-conflict nation, good governance, business-friendly environment and Rwanda's determination to achieve transformation.

Both leaders also pledged to encourage private sector linkages between their countries. Earlier in the day, President Kagame visited the headquarters of Korea Telecom, which currently operates Rwanda’s Fourth Generation Long-Term Evolution (4G LTE) network that serves the country with high speed Internet.

Kagame met with Chang-Gyu Hwang, the chair of Korea Telecom, alongside his team, where they discussed the company’s progress in Rwanda.