The government of Sweden has announced that it will upgrade its Section Office in Kigali to an embassy sometime this year.

The move was announced recently by the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt.

"We want to be where we make the best possible use of the money that a Swedish presence costs. It is positive that we can use our resources to strengthen Sweden’s presence in a number of nearby countries,” Mr Bildt told the press.

In a related development, the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson told the press that, "upgrading section offices to embassies is part of the process of supporting the implementation of Swedish-financed development assistance contributions in countries with which we conduct long-term development cooperation.”

Carlsson added; "a stronger presence on the spot is tremendously important for implementing effective, high quality and results-based development cooperation.”

Rwanda opened its embassy in Stockholm in March 2007 and currently Sweden supports Rwanda in the areas of budget support, health, education, research, environment and trade.

Ends