President Paul Kagame on Wednesday, August 28 received letters of credence from eight new envoys accredited to Rwanda.
The new envoys will represent Russia, Italy, Venezuela, India, Romania, Mexico, Azerbaijan, and the United Kingdom. Some of the envoys have their residence in Kigali, while others will be based in other African capitals.
Ambassador Mauro Massoni of Italy promised to improve the relationship between the two countries.
"It was a great emotion for me to meet President Kagame,” he said. "We already have a number of Italian companies present in Rwanda and the goal is to increase this number.”
In November 2022, Rwanda and Italian multinational energy company, Eni, signed four cooperation agreements to develop innovative joint initiatives in agriculture, protection of unique forest ecosystems, technology, and health.
Eni is considered one of the major oil companies in the world, with a market capitalization of €50 billion, as of 31 December 2023.
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"On the commercial side, we have plenty of opportunities. For the first time, Italy gave scholarships to AI students from Rwanda, and I have noticed that the majority of Rwandan students are interested in science fields,” said Massoni.
For India’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, Mridu Pawan Das, the two countries share cordial bilateral relations, which he pledged to take to "new heights.”
"Our Prime Minister has visited Rwanda once, and President Paul Kagame has visited India. I will endeavor to further strengthen the fruitful bilateral relations between India and Rwanda,” he said.
Pawan Das noted the availability of investment opportunities and a favourable business climate in Rwanda, adding that there was immense potential for Indian businesses and investors to thrive in the country.
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Ambassador Ruslan Rafael oglu Nasibov of Azerbaijan in Rwanda with residence in Ethiopia maintained that for the past twenty years, bilateral relations with Rwanda have continued to bear fruitful results, particularly for the mutual benefit of the people.
"We will take all the steps to develop our bilateral relations and take it to a higher height and increase interaction dialogue and exchanges between our two countries,” he said.
Nasibov said that 2024 marks the 20th anniversary Rwanda-Azerbaijan diplomatic relations.
"We have very bright prospects for the years to come,” he added.
"There are many opportunities in the field of public service delivery, in the fields of economy. In one word we have many opportunities and we are committed to take concrete steps to see that they bear results.”
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Russia’s new ambassador to Rwanda, Alexander Polyakov, said, "I was personally instructed to do my best in the pursuit of deepening the historically, warm and friendly Russia-Rwanda relations for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.”
He maintained that Russia respects Rwanda’s "proactive and creative” approach to the issues of African integration and its outstanding contribution to international peacekeeping.
"We completely understand the motive behind the strong stand of the Rwandan leadership on the multifaceted crisis in the Eastern DR Congo and we strongly support the idea of putting an end to it in a peaceful means of dialogue based on reasonable comprise.”
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Polyakov also stressed that Russia and Rwanda share cordial relations in different areas of cooperation, including in nuclear energy, military cooperation, trade and investment, among others.
"We are very confident in our military cooperation, and Russia continues to provide state-funded scholarships for Rwandan students. We are ready to accept more students in our country.”