NYARUGENGE - Rwanda and China signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation at the Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday.

The pact, worth 10 million Chinese Yuan (about Rwf  800 million), is in the framework of the China-Africa cooperation forum, and it is designed to benefit hospitals in Kigali.

"The assistance from the agreement we have just signed will mainly go into hospitals in Kigali and it will help the country in its path towards development,” Rosemary Museminali, Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister said.

"Your country, the People’s Republic of China has extended important assistance to our nation and we believe there are strong bilateral relations,” she told the Chinese envoy.

Ambassador Sun Shuzhong, the Chinese envoy to Rwanda, said that the agreement was an important component of the follow-ups of his country’s earlier pledge to Africa – "the Beijing summit of the forum on China-Africa cooperation.”

"Showing the concern of Chinese government to Rwandan people, I hope the grant will contribute to the improvement of the medical conditions in Rwanda,” he said.

The Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) is a platform established by China and African countries for collective consultation, dialogue and a cooperation mechanism between developing countries.

"At present, China-Rwanda cooperation has been expanded with new enrichments,” he said, explaining that both countries have been actively exploring new avenues of cooperation "featuring mutual benefit and reciprocity.”

The ambassador stressed that China would like to establish even closer ties with Rwanda and strive to be an active player in Rwanda’s ongoing economic development and social progress.

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