Rwanda and Germany are in final negotiations that will see the former receive $84 million, one-third of which will go toward Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

This was announced, yesterday, following a closed-door meeting between the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete, and the visiting German minister for economic cooperation and development, Dr Gerd Mueller.

Addressing a news conference in Kigali, the German minister said supporting private investment would multiply the impact of the funding.

"We intend to negotiate a commitment of $84 million in 2017. This will be our support for the next few years to come for very specific projects. I believe that we can multiply the impact many more times if we support the proposal put forward by Minister Gatete to support private investment like attracting German companies to invest in Rwanda,” Mueller said.

There are already 25 German companies working in Rwanda.

Mueller described Rwanda as unique before acknowledging the hard work that the government has put in getting the nation back on its feet.

He pledged his country’s continued support.

"From its own experience, Germany is very well aware how difficult it is to achieve such progress and development when you start from scratch. We will continue to support the work of the government with focus on decentralisation and in vocational education and training area,” he said.

Minister Gatete said Germany has been supporting Rwanda for many years and in many areas, especially in TVET, something he says can spur economic development that benefits as many people as possible.

"Technical and vocational training is becoming very important. The whole industrial sector requires people who are highly qualified, that’s why, in addition to the high skills, these trainings provide the lower and middle level skills that are needed for any economy to grow,” Gatete said.

Support to TVET

The grant comes three years after the two governments signed three financing agreements, worth Rwf15 billion, to support TVET.

The funds were invested in acquiring training equipment and renovating or extending existing facilities at technical schools.

In May last year, the Rwandan government received a grant of $17 million (about Rwf13 billion) from Germany in support of the "Hydropower Station Ruzizi III” project.

The grant saw Germany become the only development partner country to contribute to the project, whose total cost is estimated at $650 million.

Mueller’s three-day official visit – which ends today – focused on TVET and Good Governance/Decentralisation.

Yesterday, Mueller visited the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC)-Kigali in Kicukiro District, where he spent time talking to students in different trades.

He was accompanied by the Minister for Education, Dr Papias Malimba Musafiri.

Mueller said his country is committed to encouraging a strong link between German and Rwandan businesses, especially for joint ventures.

He said his country was interested in investing in what he called Rwanda’s dynamic generation.

"This country has a very dynamic young generation and a good education system and we want to build on that and use it as the foundation of more cooperation in economic development, we want to bring together companies from both countries for joint investments. That’s our next goal,” he said.

Musafiri, on his part, said both countries have been cooperating in the area of technical and vocational training with Germany, through German agencies GIZ and KFW, playing an instrumental role in the area of skills and capacity building.

"We have been sending many of our instructors in vocational and technical institutions for training to Germany on a long term basis but there are also short-term training programmes under which Rwandan students go to Germany and spend there about three months,” he said.

Musafiri said one of the labs at IPRC-Kigali was set up and equipped with support from Germany, adding that the biggest support has been focusing on training the trainers who teach in different technical and vocational schools.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw