More Chinese companies, especially in the manufacturing sector, will soon establish investment ventures in Rwanda while more Chinese tourists will continue visiting Rwanda. The Chinese ambassador to Rwanda, has said. This, according to Amb. Rao Hongwei, will boost people-to-people ties between Rwanda and China. He was speaking Friday evening during the official launch of Rwanda-China Alumni organisation (RCAO), an organisation currently with 350 members, all of which pursued their studies in China. "Just last week, together with 30 Chinese business leaders, Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of Alibaba Group, was in Kigali for the inaugural Youth Connekt Africa Summit.

"I know many young Rwandans are excited at Ma’s announcement of establishing a $10 million enterprise fund to support emerging firms in Africa. This won’t be the only good news. I believe in the near future, more and more Chinese companies will invest and do businesses in Rwanda,” he said.

He said that the launch of the organisation is an occasion to look beyond the horizons so that the alumni plays more important role in sustaining the vitality of Rwanda-China bilateral cooperation. "At present, we stand at a fresh start for China-Rwanda relations. In March, President Kagame paid a significant visit to China and had a fruitful meeting with Chinese President XI Jinping. The two heads of state agreed that both sides should innovate on ways to deepen our mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said. He urged the alumni to use the skills acquired during their studies in China to build a better and stronger Rwanda in various fields like education, medical care, information, finance, and media among others. He pledged the embassy support to the organisation members to deal with any difficulties in promoting bilateral exchanges. Homegrown skills The chairman of the organization, Théoneste Higaniro, said they target to promote technical skills so that Rwandans acquire them without necessarily going to China.

"We want to work with Chinese investors to set up manufacturing industries in Rwanda starting with smaller units. This is because there are some technologies from China that we have to replicate in Rwanda,” he said. He said that the group will play a key role in increasing capacity for local students while exchanging experts with China to train the locals. Dr Marie-Christine Gasingirwa, The Director General for Science, Technology and Research at the Ministry of Education said there were a lot of expectations from the group in terms of their contribution to the country’s development especially in areas of research and innovation. "We have been using experts from outside but students we send to acquire skills from abroad will reduce the gap.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw