Rwanda has, in recent months, moved to strengthen its economic and trade ties with a number of African countries, the recent of which include the Central Africa Republic, DR Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

This is in keeping with the country’s foreign policy, informed by a desire to promote bilateral and multilateral relations based on mutual respect, cooperation and mutually beneficial economic and cultural exchange.

In pursuit of strategic relations with other countries, the government of Rwanda places the private sector and people at the heart of these engagements, with a view to open new frontiers of opportunities for Rwandan citizens as well as their counterparts in countries with whom such constructive relations are built.

This, in addition to the country’s active involvement in efforts to promote regional and continental trade and investment frameworks, all of which seek to enhance intra-African trade and cooperation.

Needless to say, growing trade and investment ties between Rwanda and other African countries is a reflection of deepening diplomatic and political cooperation, the result of political commitment to advancing mutually beneficial relations.

Increased cooperation with regional and other African countries have helped boost Rwanda’s exports, nearly doubling in five years by 2019, while trading with fellow African countries is also expected to help the country recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has yet again laid bare the fact that Africa’s destiny lies in the hands of its people and that we cannot afford to waste more time before coming together as a continent to deal with our shared challenges, some of which we should have addressed a long time ago.

As part of continued efforts to deepen and broaden cooperation between Rwanda and other African countries, this week Kigali played host to a major trade and investment forum between Rwanda and Zimbabwe, which attracted scores of Zimbabwean business leaders and government officials.

The two countries signed five agreements in different areas of cooperation, adding to the already existing relations and collaboration in different sectors as well as this week’s inauguration in Kigali of Zimbabwe’s embassy building.

As rightly observed by President Paul Kagame at the closing ceremony, on Wednesday, September 29, "Progress does not come easily, or without sacrifice.

"It requires hard work, dedication, and self-reliance. But self-reliance does not mean being alone. No country on our continent can prosper without cooperating within our region.”

Indeed, constructive intra-African cooperation is a good beginning as it would serve as a springboard for the continent meaningfully engage with the rest of the world and truly transform the lives of its people.