The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, John Rwangombwa, and the head of the  Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Richard Bomboma, yesterday signed a financing agreement to support two programmes aimed at reducing poverty.

The two programmes to benefit from the grant are land registration and Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP).
According to the agreement, VUP was allocated US$13.8 million while the land tenure regularization project within the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources got US$9.4m.

Sweden will channel the funds directly to these programmes

"I want it on record that we are fully satisfied with the channeling of this money direct to the programmes,” Minister Rwangombwa said. "It is in line with the government’s aid policy.” He also assured the Swedish government that the funds will be used effectively.

"The confidence we have in our systems is not misguided. We are committed to put the funds to proper use,” Rwangombwa said.

On his part, Bomboma said that the signing of the agreement marked a turning point in the development cooperation between Rwanda and Sweden.

"Let me also stress that the cooperation amounts to so much more than just financial support…It’s about dialogue, exchange of views and mutual learning. We know that we can sometimes come across as demanding partners, and perhaps this is true. I think the reason is we expect a lot from Rwanda,” said Bomboma.

He pointed out that the focal areas of SIDA’s development cooperation in Rwanda in the next four years will be Social Protection, Justice and Law and Natural Resources.

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