President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame arrived in Namibia’s capital Windhoek on Monday for a three day State Visit. Both the President and the First Lady are expected to hold bilateral talks with their Namibian counterpart President Hage Gottfried Geingob and First Lady Monica Geingos.
The President will tour Namibia Diamond Trading Company that promotes diamond sorting, valuing, selling and marketing practices through the exclusive use of domestically mined stones, according to a statement from his office.
The three-day state visit will also be marked by the signing of a General Cooperation Agreement, effectively opening doors for further cooperation between the two nations in different areas.
The areas to be explored for further cooperation include trade and investment, mining, air service, agriculture, health, tourism, peace and security, infrastructure, energy, ICT, environment, culture, and education.
Namibia and Rwanda already have bilateral cooperation in security. The two countries’ police institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding on November 2015.
First Lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame and her Namibian counterpart, First Lady Monica Geingos share a light moment. Village Urugwiro.
The President’s visit follows many other presidential visits to and from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries – Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe – since last year.
The visit is also part of Rwanda’s efforts to strengthen relations with the (South African) region, Rwanda’s State Minister in Charge of East African Community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told The New Times.
"It shows how strong relations with the region are,” he noted.
Kagame had last visited Namibia in August last year to attend the thirty-eighth Summit of the SADC in his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union (AU).
First Lady Jeannette Kagame will take part in BeFree Nation Building Youth Forum, themed "Rebuilding the Identity of a Post Conflict Society” at Nampower Convention Centre in Windhoek organized by the First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos.
The forum seeks to encourage open dialogue amongst young people, regarding issues affecting them, and it will feature experts from Rwanda and Namibia.
editor@newtimesrwanda.com